


1 Rogue Street

by robotboy



Series: Rogue Street Stories [1]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Horror, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Body Horror, Canonical Character Death, Childhood Trauma, Claustrophobia, Demons, Haunted Houses, Horror, Horror Comedy, M/M, Monster sex, Other, Paranormal Investigators, Possession, Psychological Horror, Team as Family, found family speedrun, i promise this is mostly silly banter, not as much character death as canon!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:21:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 47,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26638006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robotboy/pseuds/robotboy
Summary: A family can be a bereaved young woman, two psychic detectives, a professional mover who wasn’t supposed to be there that day, a paranormal investigator, and his mechanically-powered sleep paralysis demon.
Relationships: Cassian Andor/Bodhi Rook, Cassian Andor/K-2SO, Cassian Andor/K-2SO/Bodhi Rook, Chirrut Îmwe/Baze Malbus, K-2SO/Bodhi Rook
Series: Rogue Street Stories [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009476
Comments: 273
Kudos: 79





	1. This is wonderful! This is going to be fine! I love this! I was soon to change my mind, however.

**Author's Note:**

> If you would like phobia warnings for a particular chapter, let me know.
> 
> A massive thanks to my incredible support crew: blxcksqvadron for beta reading, concept art, and moodboard; bright-elen for Spanish translation, memes, & the original grit in the heart of this pearl; to the cheer squad firebird-writings, shatteredfeathers, sparkysheep, and oolathurman (and thank you for all the Cantonese I didn’t use); and my Nottpicker snufflyphoenix
> 
> I allude to, outright steal from, and recommend the following~  
> Books: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch, Thud! by Terry Pratchett, and Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett  
> Movies: Relic (2020), Under the Shadow (2016), Evil Dead II (1987), Cabin in the Woods (2012), Night Watch (2004), Un Chien Andalou (1929), 1408 (2007), The Maid (2005), Ringu (1998), The Shining (1980), The Woods (2006), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Paranormal Activity (2007)  
> also, The Haunting of Hill House (2018), P.T./Playable Teaser (2014), Dragon Age II (2011), Doctor Who ('Blink,' 2007)

The house at Number 1 Rogue Street cast a long shadow. Cassian wrestled with the sticky gearbox in his van, killing the engine and getting his phone out. He checked the address in the email once more, and peered at the Edwardian manor looming incongruously on the quiet street corner.

‘It’s almost _too_ spooky,’ he muttered.

The pile of junk in his passenger seat creaked and tipped toward him.

‘Perhaps you are being catfished,’ a synthetic, entirely unsympathetic voice came from the top of the pile.

Cassian snorted, locking his phone and tucking it in his pocket. ‘What are they going to do? Rob me?’

‘I’m sure _something_ here must be worth money to _somebody,’_ the voice retorted. ‘The copper wiring, at least.’

‘Good thing you’re staying in the van,’ Cassian said, stuffing the keys into his bag. It was bulging with devices, the zipper long since jammed. Something inside went _clunk._ ‘Keep it safe, will you?’

‘I will do no such thing.’

‘Thanks,’ Cassian rapped his knuckles on the chassis as he reached over to lock the passenger door. ‘If I don’t come back in two hours…’

‘I’ll assume you’re dead.’

‘Check on me!’ Cassian rolled his eyes, locking and slamming the van door behind him. Two white reflectors leered at him as he circled the front of the van and stood on the pavement.

Rogue Street was deadly quiet. The roof of the house next door had caved in, and the grass in some front gardens was taller than the fences. The only other vehicle he could see was a three-tonne truck with a vinyl _Eadu Movers_ logo on the side. The email’s domain had been _eadumovers:_ that part, at least, wasn’t a scam.

Cassian picked his way along uneven paving stones, a wily rosebush snagging his jeans. An overgrown yew tree groaned in the breeze. The porch steps creaked underfoot, and the lamps on either side of the door were thick with cobwebs.

The speckled brass knocker wouldn’t budge. Cassian tapped the wood instead, calling out: ‘Brook? You sent an email.’

A figure passed by the front window. Cassian heard the jingle of a chain, and a bolt sliding free. The door cracked open with a gust of musty air. Huge, jet-black eyes darted over him.

‘You’re the blogger?’

Cassian frowned. In truth, he’d forgotten the site was still up until he’d got the notification of a message this morning. He unlocked his phone and held it out, showing the email. ‘Are you Brook?’

‘It’s Bodhi,’ a soft voice answered. ‘Bodhi Rook. It was meant to be bee-dot-rook but they left out the… sorry, do you want to come in?’

Bodhi opened the door properly, and Cassian stepped in. The ceiling light cast slanting shadows across the hall. Even still, Cassian could tell Bodhi was striking. He smiled to himself: if Bodhi really were catfishing, he could do worse than use a picture of himself.

Bodhi shut the door—Cassian tensed at the sound of the chain sliding back into place—and led Cassian down the hall and left into the kitchen.

‘Tea?’ Bodhi asked. Cassian nodded. ‘Only black, I’m afraid.’

‘I take it black,’ Cassian replied, setting his bag beside the kitchen island. The benches were covered in half-packed boxes. The tap screeched and coughed as Bodhi turned it, spitting out brown water for a minute before Bodhi popped open an electric kettle and filled it.

‘Sorry,’ Bodhi shook his head. ‘I thought you’d be more…’

‘English?’ Cassian guessed.

‘Basement-ish,’ Bodhi laughed. ‘I didn’t figure someone who ran _Nottinghamshire Hauntings_ got out much.’

‘Well, you have to go places to find the ghosts,’ Cassian pointed out.

‘I was kind of picturing a goth,’ Bodhi admitted.

‘I keep the demon in the van,’ Cassian drawled. ‘He tends to freak out clients.’

 _Clients,_ Cassian said, like this wasn’t his first one. Bodhi put teabags in mugs while the kettle burbled and clicked. Cassian pretended not to notice the tremor in Bodhi’s hand as he poured.

Bodhi pushed the mug toward Cassian, and their hands brushed. Bodhi’s fingertips were smudged with black.

‘Why don’t you tell me what happened?’ Cassian suggested.

‘It’s going to sound weird,’ Bodhi’s eyes were somehow even bigger and rounder over the rim of his mug.

‘Well, I wouldn’t be here if it didn’t,’ Cassian reminded him.

‘Okay,’ Bodhi set his mug down and rubbed his hands together rapidly, his lips pursed. ‘So I was packing up the linen cupboard across the hall, yeah? And I hit my head on the light fixture. Must have knocked me out, but the thing was, when I came to, I was in the upstairs office. And I felt this…’

Bodhi looked at Cassian like he was going to finish the sentence. Cassian waited.

‘Something?’ Bodhi wrinkled his nose. ‘Someone?’

‘Which did you first think it was?’ Cassian asked, taking a sip of his tea. ‘Some _thing,_ or some _one?’_

‘Someone,’ Bodhi said, more certain this time. ‘He needed help.’

‘He…?’ Cassian raised his eyebrows.

Bodhi put his mug down a little too sharply on the countertop. ‘The man who was living here just died. I know, I _know_ it probably sounds like I’m freaking myself out.’

‘It might be easier,’ Cassian spoke gently, ‘If you keep telling me what you think happened, instead of what _you_ think _I_ will think happened.’

Bodhi snorted, shaking his head. ‘I’ve never tried to explain it out loud before. You know sometimes, when something’s _weird?’_

Cassian took a long drink of tea. He’d spent most of his childhood in the 133 section of the library, and an unhealthy proportion of his time since then online. He understood the theory of hauntings, as far as anyone did, perfectly well. But the only _weird_ thing he’d ever actually felt was sleep paralysis—and he’d found a convenient solution for that.

‘Of course,’ he lied.

‘His name was Galen Erso,’ Bodhi said. ‘He was an architect.’

‘What happened upstairs?’ Cassian prompted.

‘I was near his desk,’ Bodhi said. ‘There was a map, and on it…’

He shook his head. ‘He drew something.’

‘Do you know if it was there before?’ Cassian asked.

Bodhi grimaced, taking a gulp of tea. ‘I couldn’t have checked, but... it was fresh. I could smell the ink.’

Cassian‘s eyes darted to the stains on Bodhi’s fingers.

‘When was this?’ he fiddled with the handle of his mug.

‘Eight this morning.’

‘Have you left the house since then?’

‘I’ve, um. I’m meant to be boxing things up,’ Bodhi’s eyes slid away.

‘Bodhi,’ Cassian sat forward, elbows on the table. ‘Why didn’t you leave?’

Bodhi’s shoulders hunched. He cradled the mug, staring at Cassian’s hands. When he spoke, his voice was so soft Cassian almost missed it.

‘He’s still here.’

Cassian exhaled slowly, even as his heart kicked in his chest. ‘What do you want to do?’

Bodhi fidgeted, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Something in the corner held his gaze for a moment, then he looked back at Cassian. ‘I think I should show you the office.’

‘Okay,’ Cassian nodded, picking up his bag. ‘Upstairs?’

‘Yep,’ Bodhi took their mugs and put them in the sink. Cassian went first. If Bodhi was trying to con him, it gave him less chance to set something up. If he wasn’t, Cassian was hopefully giving an air of professional confidence.

‘Turn right at the top,’ Bodhi advised. ‘Front room.’

The office wasn’t packed yet. Evening light spilled through the window above an antique desk. Maps and blueprints were strewn across it. There was something drawn on the topmost paper. Cassian put his bag down. He’d barely taken a step toward the desk when Bodhi’s voice rang sharply behind him:

_‘No.’_

Cassian whipped around. Bodhi was frozen in the doorway. Those dark eyes rolled back, bloodshot. Every joint in his fingers was hyperextended, and twitches coursed through him. The flyaway hairs that escaped his ponytail began to lift with static.

‘Bodhi!’ Cassian grabbed him by the arms, forgetting everything he knew about possessions that told him this was a terrible idea.

All of it might have been an act, but Bodhi’s toes were floating three inches off the floor. Cassian swept a foot under to check, barely breathing.

Bodhi’s head cranked forward. His cheeks were tear-streaked, lips quivering, eyes milky-white.

 _‘This house—a curse,’_ he rasped. The accent was thick, and Cassian couldn’t parse half the words as they scraped their way out of Bodhi’s throat. _‘The weapon—Krennic—cataclysm—cannot—broken. Stop him. —dust. You have to tell her. It’s Yonder.’_

Cassian shuddered at the audible capital letter. So, this was real.

Bodhi went limp. It was all Cassian could do to stop him crashing to the floor, looping his arms under Bodhi’s and dragging him into a chair. He held his palm under Bodhi’s nose, and a whimper of relief escaped him when he felt warm breath.

‘Fuck,’ Cassian muttered, grabbing a marker from the desk. In the corner of the paper he scribbled down the words he’d understood. Only then did he look at what he was writing on. It was a map of Nottinghamshire. Bodhi—or Galen—had drawn two perfect circles. The smaller ring was inside the larger one, off-centre, with lines inside it like spokes of a wheel. The spokes converged at 1 Rogue Street.

Bodhi groaned, curling up in the chair. He held his own hand in front of his face, staring at it.

‘Bodhi!’ Cassian was at his side. ‘Or… Galen?’

‘I…’ Bodhi coughed, blinking unfocused at Cassian. ‘He can’t… _stay.’_

His eyes flickered white: Cassian held back a flinch. He grabbed his kit, rummaging through the gadgets.

‘Fuck, shit, where is it…’ he muttered, jamming his finger between an EMF and a repurposed oximeter. ‘De puta madre, sé que la puse… there!’

He hauled out the spirit trap. The springs inside it jangled, and Cassian had to smack the battery hatch before the LEDs flashed to life. They cycled from yellow to red—Cassian really had to get a new soldering iron—and the machine went _blip._

‘Error, my ass,’ Cassian hissed at it. ‘Come on, _come on,_ work…’

Cassian flipped the switch.

All the air left the room. His eardrums squeezed so suddenly it felt like they would burst. The daylight filtering through the window above the desk went as dark as a thunderhead. The floor started to rumble, and motes of dust lifted from the rug. Bodhi screamed.

The box made a whirring sound, then a decisive click. The LEDs blinked through a cycle before settling on _Empty_. Bodhi, still shivering, sat tentatively forward to peer at the box when Cassian held it up.

‘Piece of shit,’ Cassian shook it, like he could hear the spirit inside. The _Empty_ light kept flashing. ‘Sorry. I thought that would get him out.’

‘It’s okay,’ Bodhi dug a thumb into his palm, working out the tension. ‘It did _something._ He’s gone.’

The marker rolled off the table and hit the floor with a _clack._ Both of them jumped.

‘Fuck me,’ Bodhi laughed timidly. ‘Does this usually happen?’

‘This is a first,’ Cassian admitted. ‘Are you okay? How do you feel?’

Bodhi scrubbed his wet cheeks with his sleeve. ‘Like shit, honestly.’

‘Can I get you something?’ Cassian asked. ‘Do you want to get out of here?’

‘Um,’ Bodhi swallowed, sighed, and squared his shoulders. ‘I think… I think we should do what he said.’

‘Galen?’ Cassian checked, glancing down at the useless spirit trap.

‘We have to tell her,’ Bodhi repeated. ‘That was important.’

‘Okay,’ Cassian stood, offering a hand to Bodhi. Bodhi took it with a shy smile, wobbling as he stood up.

‘You should eat,’ Cassian said. ‘I’ve got biscuits in the car.’

‘Yeah,’ Bodhi looked ready to levitate again at the promise of food. ‘I could murder a digestive.’

Bodhi kept hanging onto Cassian as they made their way down the stairs. The wood growled underfoot, and Bodhi kept a firm hold on the bannister.

‘Who do you think _she_ was?’ Cassian asked. ‘A wife? Daughter?’

‘I’ll call the agent,’ Bodhi said. ‘He should know.’

‘Surely if it was a relative…’ Cassian trailed off as Bodhi stilled.

They were an inch away from the bottom step. Bodhi’s grip on Cassian’s arm became a vice. Cassian looked at him, and Bodhi pointed wordlessly at the front door.

The handle was turning.

Cassian stepped between Bodhi and the door. There was a boxcutter in his kit, a wrench, and a jar of iron filings: any of them might be some help, if he hadn’t left the bag upstairs. His heart fluttered in his throat. The door opened a crack, and jerked to a stop as the chain pulled tight.

‘What the fuck?’ came a woman’s voice. ‘Is someone in here?’

‘Sorry!’ Bodhi scrambled past Cassian and slid the chain free. The door opened properly. On the porch stood a white girl flanked by two middle-aged Chinese men.

‘Who are you?’ Cassian asked.

‘This is my house,’ she said. ‘Who the fuck are you?’


	2. Looking for trouble and if I cannot find it, I will create it.

‘You live here?’ Bodhi asked.

‘No,’ the girl sighed. ‘My father did.’

‘Galen Erso?’ Cassian asked. She nodded. ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’

‘Yeah,’ she scowled at him. ‘Who are you, again?’

‘I’m… Cassian,’ Cassian scratched the back of his head. ‘The mover called me in.’

‘The estate agent told me the house, was, um…’ Bodhi winced. ‘There was some kind of contractual agreement…?’

‘Of course he did,’ she muttered. ‘You can stop removing my inheritance now.’

‘Sorry,’ Bodhi stepped back, and she marched over the threshold. The two Chinese men remained at the door.

‘Good evening!’ the smaller one said brightly. ‘Which of you has a demon in his car?’

Bodhi frowned at Cassian, who felt his cheeks flush. The problem with the demon thing was that it only sounded like a joke the first time.

‘He’s minding my stuff,’ Cassian said, and hoped it was true.

‘So, are you with…?’ Bodhi pointed down the hall. ‘Ms Erso?’

‘Her name is Jyn,’ the bigger, gruffer man said. ‘We shared a cab.’

‘We’re from Guardian Investigations,’ the smaller one said. ‘Contracted privately by Mr Erso’s associate.’

Cassian looked at him again, and this time he noticed the cloudy eyes and the cane. He made the decision not to question the effectiveness of a blind investigator.

‘You! Mover!’ Jyn called out. ‘Did you pack up his documents?’

‘Not yet,’ Bodhi jogged through the hall to meet her, and the investigators took the opportunity to come inside. Cassian raised his eyebrows and closed the door behind them.

Jyn stormed back up the hallway, looping around to climb the staircase.

‘They’re probably in the—’ Bodhi chased after her— ‘the office.’

The colour drained from his face. Cassian took the stairs two at a time to catch up to her, grabbing her by the elbow.

‘What are you doing?’ she hissed, shaking him off.

‘Jyn,’ he tried to catch his breath so it didn’t come out all at once. ‘Something strange happened. I don’t know how your father died, but… Bodhi found something. It might not be safe to go into the office.’

Jyn’s nostrils flared. ‘What do you mean, _strange?’_

‘Probably murdered,’ the gruff man called out from downstairs.

‘They told me he fell in the shower,’ Jyn spoke quietly.

‘Could be that he did,’ the blind man arrived on the landing, followed by the gruff one. ‘Unlikely in a place like this.’

The gruff one grunted in agreement.

‘I didn’t properly introduce myself,’ the blind one stuck out his hand. ‘Chirrut Îmwe, and my partner is Baze Malbus.’

Cassian shook Chirrut’s hand, then Baze’s. When Bodhi went to do the same, Chirrut hissed as their palms touched.

‘You’re not alone in there, are you?’ he tilted his head.

Bodhi’s eyes were like saucers. ‘I don’t know what you—‘

‘Leave it be,’ Baze shouldered Chirrut out of the way, getting the handshakes over and done with. ‘He’s a busybody.’

‘We were hired to investigate,’ Chirrut pointed out. ‘I’m investigating.’

‘Why is it _unlikely_ that he fell in the shower?’ Jyn narrowed her eyes.

Chirrut turned to Baze, who heaved a sigh. Baze glanced between Bodhi and Cassian, as if they had an answer. Cassian decided he did.

‘Jyn. There’s no good way to say this…’ Cassian bit his lip. ‘We think the house is haunted.’

Jyn glared at him, mouth drawn tight with rage.

‘Your father had a message for you,’ Bodhi explained. ‘I’m the one who... heard it.’

He was slouching again, acting smaller than he was. Cassian hadn’t noticed it before.

‘You all know how much this sounds like a con, right?’ Jyn snarled. ‘Did the ghost tell you where to find his will? What a surprise it would be if it mentioned—‘

The smash was ear-splitting. All of them jolted in shock, staring at the door on the right.

‘Is someone in there?’ Jyn asked.

‘I didn’t do any work upstairs,’ Bodhi said.

Jyn gave him a skeptical look. She strode to the door and tried the handle. Swearing, she pulled a ring of keys from her pocket, attempting to fit them one by one. Finally, the latch clicked and she swung the door open.

It was a bathroom, tiled in shades of green that last appealed to interior designers, and nobody else, in the late 1940s. The floor was covered in shards of glass, stained with red.

‘Very funny,’ Jyn growled, kicking the glass aside with her boot. ‘Did you time that, or is there a fifth man I’ve never met hiding behind the shower curtain?’

‘Hm,’ Baze didn’t cross the threshold as he looked around. ‘Three toothbrushes.’

‘Did your father live alone?’ Chirrut asked.

‘Yes,’ Jyn crouched, carefully picking them up. ‘And no, before you ask, I doubt he had any overnight guests.’

‘So are you trying to prove there _is_ something supernatural going on, or there _isn’t?’_ Cassian asked.

Jyn tossed a piece of glass at his feet instead of answering.

‘Excuse me,’ Bodhi actually raised his hand. ‘Do you want to know the message, or not?’

‘Fine,’ Jyn gritted her teeth. ‘What did the restless ghost of my father tell you that he couldn’t tell me, and how much will you charge for relaying it?’

‘Oh, there’s um, no charge,’ Bodhi seemed to miss her sarcasm. ‘I think Cassian wrote it down?’

‘In the office,’ Cassian gestured. ‘Just… be careful in there.’

‘Whatever stirred there has calmed,’ Chirrut declared.

Jyn didn’t acknowledge him, flicking the lights on and stepping in. Cassian hesitated, then scurried after her, getting his bag out of the way and stuffing the spirit trap inside. He slipped the EMF meter out and powered it up. The needle swung immediately to maximum. He held it down by his hip, and tried to keep from glancing at it as Jyn discovered the map.

‘Is this it?’ she asked.

‘Yeah,’ Bodhi stood beside her. Cassian guessed he hadn’t had a chance to read it last time.

‘This doesn’t make any sense,’ she said. ‘What’s that word?’

‘Cataclysm,’ Cassian said, and in defense of his handwriting: ‘I was rushing.’

Jyn paused. Her finger hovered over another word.

‘How did he say it?’ she murmured, unable to tear her gaze away from the paper.

‘Dust?’ Cassian frowned. ‘It was a mess. He had this —‘

‘Accent, yes,’ Jyn said. ‘He’s Danish.’

She flinched as she corrected herself. ‘ _Was_ Danish.’

Bodhi shook his head. ‘That’s not what he said.’

‘Do you remember?’ Cassian tilted his head.

Jyn was looking at Bodhi now.

‘Bodhi,’ she blinked away the sheen in her eyes. _‘What did he say?’_

‘It was…’ Bodhi frowned, mouthing silently as if he could capture the shape of the words again. ‘—dust.’

There was slight lisp, and now Cassian knew, he could hear the Scandinavian tone in the vowel.

‘Stardust.’

Jyn clapped her hand over her mouth. She shook her head, eyes filling with tears. Bodhi touched her arm, apologetic, and she sat on the edge of the desk with her shoulders tight.

‘Do you want us to give you a minute?’ Cassian suggested.

Jyn looked at him like she’d forgotten he was there. She sniffled, and nodded.

Bodhi gave Cassian a worried look, and Cassian grabbed his bag. They pulled the door almost-shut behind them.

Baze and Chirrut were no longer on the landing. Light filtered up from downstairs, followed by their voices. Cassian checked the meter again.

‘Oh, is that an EMP machine?’ Bodhi asked.

‘EMF, yeah,’ Cassian held it out.

Bodhi squinted at the dial. ‘Is it stuck?’

Cassian sighed, popping the batteries out and letting the power cycle. The needle dropped to zero, and when he clicked the batteries back into place, it spiked right back to full.

‘Do you have something to test the blood?’ Bodhi suggested.

‘Blood?’ Cassian repeated.

‘In the bathroom,’ Bodhi pointed.

Cassian rifled through his bag. ‘Might be something in the van.’

‘Is this what you usually do?’ Bodhi seemed genuinely interested. ‘Measure the… EMF, and stuff?’

‘Sure,’ Cassian said, leaving _if a recently bereaved loved one doesn’t show up halfway through and make me feel like the world’s biggest jerk_ implied.

He gave the EMF meter to Bodhi and took out the thermal camera. A quick scan of the landing gave him a normal reading, aside from Bodhi running hotter than Cassian.

They moved to the bathroom: Bodhi grabbed a towel and used it to push a path through the glass. Cassian searched with the camera: it was colder, but that could be the tiles.

‘You hear that?’ Bodhi murmured.

Cassian shook his head, ears pricked. Bodhi moved closer to the sink, peering at the drain.

‘It’s a voice,’ he whispered.

‘Could be Baze and Chir—‘

‘It’s a woman,’ Bodhi said. He leaned deeper into the sink, his head tilted to one side. ‘She’s shouting.’

Cassian craned his neck out the bathroom door to check Jyn was still in the office. He couldn’t tell.

Bodhi’s head was almost wedged between the tap and the drain. His lips parted in puzzlement.

‘Mind your h—‘

Something thumped rapidly against the wall, making both of them flinch. Bodhi swore, clutching his temple where he’d hit it on the tap.

 _‘Oh,_ fuck,’ Cassian propped the thermocam on the toilet seat and rushed to Bodhi’s side. ‘That must have hurt.’

Bodhi wrinkled his nose, nodding. He leaned against the wall and pulled his hair away from the spot. Cassian blinked: he hadn’t noticed the undercut until now.

‘It’s not bleeding,’ he said. ‘We should ice it.’

Bodhi pulled a face, clearly embarrassed.

‘Did you hear anything?’ Cassian asked.

‘You mean apart from someone trying to bash the wall in?’ Bodhi winced. ‘The woman was getting quieter.’

Jyn poked her head through the doorway.

‘What the hell was that noise?’ she asked.

‘The banging?’ Cassian asked. ‘It was coming from the office.’

‘I was just in the office,’ Jyn countered. ‘It wasn’t me.’

‘Then it was inside the wall?’ Cassian raised an eyebrow.

‘Guys,’ Bodhi mumbled.

‘Sure,’ Jyn snapped. ‘The world’s angriest squirrel probably knocked the toothbrush glass over, too.’

‘Guys,’ Bodhi repeated.

Cassian pointed the thermocam at the wall. It lit up in blues and purples. ‘If there’s squirrels inside, they’re cold-blooded.’

 _‘Guys,’_ Bodhi snapped his fingers, and pointed at the mirror. ‘Look.’

The glass was shattered. The cracks formed an off-centre cobweb in two concentric circles.

Cassian’s blood ran cold. It was identical to the sigil Bodhi had drawn on the map.

‘What the _fuck,’_ Cassian hissed. ‘Let me just…’

He grabbed a motion detector from his pack, setting it in the centre of the floor. He waved his hand, and the detector went _ping._

‘For christ’s sake,’ Jyn threw her hands up and stomped downstairs.

‘You want to keep looking?’ Cassian asked.

‘Not really,’ Bodhi hugged his own elbows. ‘It’s freezing up here.’

Cassian checked the thermocam one more time. He thumped it, just to see if the readings changed. He followed Bodhi out to the landing, walking directly into Bodhi’s back as he fiddled with the settings.

‘Sorry,’ he shuffled back. Bodhi fumbled behind him and snatched the thermocam from Cassian’s hands. He pointed it at the office door.

The last rays of daylight filtered under the door. Cassian held perfectly still. So did the two shadows, spread like feet behind the door.

Bodhi shuddered, but he kept the thermocam steady. It showed nothing.

The feet stepped away. Cassian let out the biggest exhalation he’d ever held.

Bodhi inched forward, and with the longest possible reach of his arm, gave the door a push. Both he and Cassian scrambled backwards, as the door swung open to reveal the empty office.

 _‘Fuck,’_ Bodhi breathed, shoulders sagging.

‘We’re going downstairs now,’ Cassian declared, and this time Bodhi was quick to follow.

They headed to the kitchen, the only place with the lights on. Jyn and Baze were at the dining table, Baze asking questions and Jyn pinching the bridge of her nose as she answered.

‘You’re back,’ Chirrut smiled. ‘I ordered pizza.’

‘Oh,’ Bodhi’s smile was more like a grimace. ‘That’s okay, I’m—’

‘Yours has vegan cheese,’ Chirrut said.

Bodhi frowned. ‘How did you—?’

‘I’m psychic,’ Chirrut told him. To Cassian, he said: ‘Hawaiian, extra pineapple?’

Cassian blinked. ‘Thanks.’

He went to the freezer. Not finding any sign of severed limbs or Sigourney Weaver, he dug out a bag of frozen peas. Bodhi took it, pressing it to his head and mouthing _extra pineapple?_

Cassian shrugged.

‘I need to check something in the van,’ he said.

The hall light flickered as he passed. He kept striding to the front door, refusing to acknowledge it.

He opened the passenger side of the van.

‘What happened to _if I’m not back in two hours?’_ he grumbled.

‘It’s been an hour and fifty-seven minutes,’ came the prim reply.

‘I’m sure you were about to storm in, guns blazing,’ Cassian rolled his eyes, sliding the back door open and hunting for his environmental sensors. He threw in a packet of biscuits.

‘Regrettably, you have not given me a gun,’ was the response from the front seat.

‘Kay,’ Cassian sighed. ‘I regret giving you opposable thumbs.’


	3. He gave them the heebie-jeebies. He had nothing else to give.

‘The blind guy saw you,’ Cassian told Kay.

‘He did?’ Kay drawled. ‘How did he manage that?’

‘This place is for real,’ Cassian ignored the attempt at a joke. ‘The guy who emailed had a category two possession.’

‘Or he’s a magnificent thespian,’ Kay countered.

‘It’s all the typical stuff,’ Cassian continued. ‘Thumping, voices, disconnected shadows.’

‘Add a GoPro and you could sell it to Blumhouse.’

‘The ghost drew this circle sigil I’ve never seen,’ Cassian said. ‘I want you to look at it.’

‘I don’t know why you try to convince people I’m not Siri,’ Kay tilted his head so the reflectors glared at Cassian. ‘You insist on treating me like one.’

‘You’re about as helpful,’ Cassian said. ‘I tried to catch the ghost in the spirit trap. It broke, though.’

‘I suppose you can’t capture every spectral entity you encounter,’ Kay mused.

‘He mentioned the Yonder.’

‘Oh.’

Of all the completely not-reassuring things Kay had ever said, that _oh_ was the worst.

Headlights flashed, and Cassian slammed the door in Kay’s face. He tried to stand like the kind of ordinary guy who talks to a heap of scrap metal in his van.

A scooter pulled up behind Bodhi’s truck.

‘Hey,’ the driver called. ‘This number 1 Rogue?’

‘Yeah,’ Cassian said, and the driver took five pizzas from her pannier.

Cassian watched her walk up to the porch. Paranormal investigation wasn’t a job for people too proud to accept free pizza. He grabbed as much equipment as he could carry and managed to slip through the front door before Baze closed it.

‘How’s the demon?’ Baze asked, like it was a normal thing to ask.

‘Bored,’ Cassian answered.

Baze grunted, seeming to agree that the conversation should end there. In the kitchen, Bodhi had pulled up one of the island stools and sat at a corner of the dining table like a gargoyle in a jumpsuit. That left a chair empty for Cassian. He’d assumed they’d assumed he was taking off for the night: he’d considered it, after all. But Jyn opened a box, grimaced at the pineapples, and shoved the pizza at Cassian, so he supposed that meant he was welcome.

‘So,’ Jyn said, ‘What’s the prognosis, ghostbuster?’

It took Cassian a moment to realise she was addressing him. He pulled a string of mozzarella from his mouth before speaking.

‘You want to know if the house is haunted?’ he confirmed.

‘Is that what you do?’ she asked. ‘Or did you already get enough content for your Youtube channel?’

‘I don’t have a Youtube,’ he mumbled into his pizza.

‘He’s got a blog,’ Bodhi added. _‘Nottinghamshire Hauntings.’_

Baze’s look suggested he knew exactly how embarrassed this made Cassian.

‘I look forward to reading it,’ Chirrut said.

‘This wasn’t for a blog, or a video, or anything,’ Cassian said. ‘I just investigate places. Usually abandoned, not...’

‘Not two days after someone’s father died in them,’ Jyn guessed.

Cassian nodded, stuffing crust into his mouth.

‘I didn’t know anything about it,’ he said, once he’d swallowed. ‘I’m sorry. I can go.’

‘You’re not going,’ Jyn declared. ‘None of you.’

Baze and Chirrut sat forward with interest.

‘If—and it’s still an _if_ —you’re not a very badly coordinated team of con artists,’ Jyn continued, ‘I’m not letting you out of my sight. It would be awfully convenient for Krennic to scare me into leaving, then change the locks.’

‘Sorry,’ Cassian interjected. ‘Did you say _Krennic?’_

‘Orson Krennic,’ Jyn said. ‘My father’s colleague.’

‘He’s the one who called me in,’ Bodhi said. ’Said the place defaulted to his company.’

‘Galen mentioned Krennic!’ Cassian gesticulated at Bodhi. ‘I wrote it down!’

‘That’s what you wrote?’ Bodhi frowned. ‘It looked like _chronic.’_

‘I’m sorry, your enunciation while you were possessed by the ghost of a Danish architect wasn’t perfectly crisp,’ Cassian retorted.

 _‘And_ if any of this shit is actually happening,’ Jyn declared. ‘I’m not sleeping alone in a ghost house.’

‘You want us to stay?’ Bodhi adjusted the frozen peas on his head. ‘All of us?’

‘Fuck it,’ Jyn rolled her eyes. ‘It’s a big house.’

Which led, post-pizza, to an exploration of how many beds the house had. Jyn claimed Galen’s room upstairs, since the idea of anyone else sleeping there was worse. There was a guest room downstairs, which Baze and Chirrut were happy with—Cassian realised, belatedly, that _partners_ may have been more than a business context. That left the downstairs lounge, which was a maze of boxes, or an empty room upstairs that had glow-in-the-dark stars stuck on the ceiling by some previous occupant. The couches were all slightly too short for Cassian or Bodhi to sleep on, and besides, Cassian announced: ‘I’ve got an inflatable mattress in the car. You could have it.’

Bodhi’s eyes darted curiously over Cassian’s face.

‘For overnight ghost hunts,’ Cassian continued, because it was technically true. That, and he knew from experience it was more comfortable than couch surfing.

‘What about you?’ Bodhi asked.

‘I can sleep in the van,’ he said, and before anyone could argue: ‘The seat folds down.’

‘Too spooky to sleep in the ghost house?’ Jyn smirked at him.

‘Yeah,’ Cassian shifted his weight. ‘Too spooky.’

He didn’t have to say spooky for _whom._ It was far from the worst lie he’d ever told about his sleeping arrangements.

As if to spite him, the house acted perfectly ordinary for the rest of the evening. They swept up the broken glass and disinfected the bathroom floor. Cassian took samples from the bloodied shards, and set it up in his prototype ectoplasm detector while explaining to Jyn that if it went green in the morning, it was of supernatural origin. Bodhi and Baze unpacked the boxes Bodhi had started on in the kitchen, and Cassian opened the digestives he’d promised to Bodhi. Jyn tried to break open the door beside the linen cupboard, which had no handles. None of them went back to the office.

‘Jyn,’ Bodhi pulled her to one side while Cassian’s inflatable mattress screamed itself full. ‘I’m just a mover. Do you really want me to stay?’

‘If something goes bump in the night, I can blame you instead of shitting myself,’ Jyn said.

Bodhi’s eyebrows shot upwards, and he gave the kind of nod that said he couldn’t argue.

Fortunately, Galen bought his toothbrushes in bulk—the same brand as the ones they’d found on the floor—so Cassian wasn’t obliged to do a late-night Tesco run. That left him bidding everyone an awkward goodnight and returning to the van once more.

‘You’re not inviting me in?’ Kay asked.

‘You’re not a vampire,’ Cassian cranked the seat down. Kay reached over, holding the spring that always jammed until Cassian had the seat flat.

‘They already know I’m here,’ Kay pointed out.

‘Jyn doesn’t,’ Cassian argued. ‘And Bodhi thinks I’m kidding.’

Kay didn’t ask why Cassian wanted to keep that particular secret from Bodhi, and Cassian was grateful for it. He plugged his phone in to charge, and unrolled the sleeping bag from the back to drape it over himself. Kay turned dutifully in the passenger seat to loom over Cassian.

He could see the faint green glow of the stars on Bodhi’s ceiling. In the adjacent office window, a silhouette disappeared into the dark. Only Kay saw it, and he didn’t mention it.

*

The tremor was so strong it made the suspension jerk in Cassian’s van. He scrambled to throw the sleeping bag off, leaning across Kay to check the house. Dust was floating up from the roof, and leaves fluttered from the trees. Somewhere up the street, a car alarm went off.

‘Oops,’ Kay said.

‘What was that?’ Cassian asked. Someone inside the house was shouting.

‘I’ve no idea,’ Kay stared through the windscreen. ‘Perhaps if I could see inside…’

‘Not yet,’ Cassian was already pulling his boots on. Kay’s sigh was cut short by Cassian slamming the van door and jogging up the flagstones. He banged the door with his fist.

‘You guys okay in there?’

Baze opened the door. His hair was even wilder than it had been the night before. He blinked at Cassian, shrugged, and shuffled back into the bedroom.

Cassian rushed up the stairs. Jyn emerged from her room swearing, while Bodhi peeked out from behind his door a moment later.

‘If this is your idea of a joke…’ Jyn rubbed her eyes. ‘Make it _not_ at six in the morning.’

‘I felt it outside,’ Cassian said.

‘Earthquake?’ Bodhi yawned into his hand as he plodded out to the landing.

’Short of explosives strong enough to get us all on a watchlist, I don’t know how you think we could have faked that,’ Cassian said to Jyn.

‘Mm,’ Bodhi nodded. ‘I need toast.’

He stretched expansively, and Cassian tried not to notice the glimpse of skin between his t-shirt and briefs. The jumpsuit had been hiding all sorts of musculature Cassian realised he should have expected from a professional mover. He very much noticed every inch of Bodhi’s bare legs as they plodded down the stairs, but at least Jyn was the only one to catch him doing it.

‘Is there bread?’ Jyn shouted after him.

‘Fuck!’ came the answer.

Cassian sighed into his hands, rubbing the crusted corners of his eyes. ‘I’ll go to the shop.’

His return was met with significantly more fanfare than last time: apparently there had been no aftershocks or paranormal disruptions of any kind in his absence, and they’d found a shower in the downstairs bathroom that they were reasonably sure nobody had died in that week. Buying coffee would have been clever, Cassian realised as he tried to open the linen cupboard instead of the kitchen door. But he had enough breakfast food to feed an army, or at least five adults who didn’t mind eating exclusively breakfast food for the next few days. Bodhi had a cup of tea waiting for him, while Jyn had liberated her father’s Tassimo from a box and clutched her latte as if she expected them to steal that too. Baze found a blender so loud it could have been the culprit for the earthquake, and made smoothies for himself and Chirrut.

‘Cassian,’ Chirrut turned to him as he sat down with a plate of eggs, ‘May I ask why you are marked?’

Both Jyn and Bodhi did a poor job of pretending not to eavesdrop.

‘False positive,’ Cassian said. ‘I was part of an encounter when I was six.’

It was the truth, stripped to its bare essentials.

‘They sent a Watcher?’ Baze raised his eyebrows.

Cassian frowned for a moment. He’d never had these conversations outside well-meaning guidance counsellors, long-dormant internet forums, and Kay.

‘Not a very good one.’

Baze _hmph_ -ed and Chirrut slurped his smoothie noisily. Bodhi was practically vibrating with curiosity: Cassian let him continue to vibrate and finished his eggs in peace.

Chirrut heard it first. He was up from the table, Baze following, before Jyn got to the kitchen door. Cassian and Bodhi brought up the rear.

Paper fluttered through the air. Torrents of pages were spilling down the staircase, twisting and curling around each other as they fell.

‘What in the—?’ Jyn barged through them all, holding her arms over her head as the paper hissed and rasped around her. She kicked reams of it aside, fighting her way up the stairs. Cassian grabbed a sheet out of the air. It was a floor plan, drawn in pencil. He turned it upside-down: it was almost the same as 1 Rogue Street, but not quite.

Bodhi was holding another sheet: he laid his on top of Cassian’s. Their plans didn’t match. Cassian grabbed another piece: it was a map of the local area, dated twenty years old. A sheet whipped past Cassian, its edge slicing the web of his thumb.

 _‘Ah!’_ he winced, putting his mouth on the wound.

‘Come on,’ Bodhi tugged his elbow. ‘We’ve got to go after her.’

They waded through the paper to follow Jyn. Cassian’s foot slipped on a page, ripping as he missed the edge of the stair, and Bodhi caught his arm. Below them, Baze was clearing a path for Chirrut. Cassian gripped the bannister. Pages flooded ankle deep.

They reached the landing, where the air was still. The trail of paper was scrunched from Jyn’s feet, leading into the office. She was standing at the desk, gripping the edges as she leaned over it.

The surface was strewn with maps. Repeated on every single one, the sigil of concentric circles.

‘Bodhi,’ Jyn beckoned him closer. ‘What’s this symbol?’

‘You don’t know?’ Bodhi asked. ‘I think he drew it for you.’

‘I’ve never seen it before,’ Jyn shook her head.

‘Cassian?’ Bodhi turned to him. ‘Is it some kind of… supernatural thing?’

‘I haven’t seen anything like it,’ Cassian admitted. ‘But that doesn’t mean it isn’t.’

‘What the _fuck_ is going on?’ Jyn pushed the sheets around. ‘How did all of these _fit_ for a drop down the stairs?’

‘Jyn,’ Cassian murmured. ‘This wasn’t us. Surely it’s—’

‘Stop it,’ Jyn ran her fingers through her hair, sighing explosively. ‘Just _stop it.’_

Baze and Chirrut chose that awkward silence to make their entrance.

‘Bodhi,’ Baze said. ‘Draw a circle.’

Bodhi frowned, but he took a pen from the desk and drew one. Or rather, he drew an asymmetrical oval with overlapping ends.

‘Do another,’ Cassian said, recognising Baze’s idea.

Bodhi drew three more circles, each as lopsided as the last. Nothing like Galen’s.

‘They’re all the same diameter, on the maps,’ Jyn realised. Each one crosses Derby Road at these points, see?’

She was right. The sigils varied in size because each map had a different scale.

‘If something real is going on in these areas, Saw will know,’ Jyn said.

‘Saw?’ Bodhi repeated.

‘Saw Gerrera,’ Chirrut said. ‘The man who hired us.’

‘He was a friend of my father’s,’ Jyn explained. ‘He works in city planning.’

She picked up a map and folded it.

‘I can drive you,’ Cassian said.

‘Guess I’ll pick up the mess,’ Bodhi sighed.

‘The paper?’ Chirrut asked. ‘It’s gone. Stopped when Jyn reached the desk, I’d say.’

Jyn scowled. But when she and the others turned, only a dozen sheets lay on the floor between the desk and the stairs.

‘Grab your keys,’ Jyn told Cassian. ‘I’m getting out of this fucking house.’

It didn’t take them long. Jyn stopped to change shirts, and Cassian sniffed his own before deciding it would do. Baze scrawled a longer shopping list and shoved it into Cassian’s hands, in exchange for the promise to look properly at Bodhi’s head injury. They left Chirrut to investigate the office wall that had thumped the night before.

‘Oh,’ Cassian realised when they reached the porch. ‘There’s stuff in my passenger seat.’

‘Of course there is,’ Jyn rolled her eyes.

‘I’ll clear some room in the back,’ Cassian jogged ahead of her, hauling the back door open and making a hasty stack of equipment and sweeping loose screws off the seat.

 _‘Be normal,’_ he whispered. Kay didn’t dignify him with a response, which was a good interpretation of normal.

Jyn hopped in, and got her phone out while Cassian started the ignition.

‘You good to navigate?’ he asked.

‘Yeah,’ she laid her phone on the compartment beside Cassian’s elbow, and a smooth voice told him to continue straight. Jyn leaned her forehead on the glass and let the phone direct him. Cassian drove, deliberately ignoring Kay’s silence. When he pulled up outside the council office, Jyn got out and stood pointedly by the driver’s side door. Cassian cracked it open.

‘What?’

‘You’re coming,’ she informed him. ‘You’re the one who understands weird shit.’

Kay’s reflectors bored a hole in Cassian’s back the whole way inside.

The office smelt of dust and rotting newsprint. Jyn breezed past the reception desk and through a door marked _Private._ Cassian followed before anyone could complain. She zig-zagged through a warren of offices, stopping when she reached a door.

‘Saw?’ she tapped on the wood. ‘It’s Jyn.’

There was a call from inside. Jyn hit a button beside the door and it swung slowly open.

‘Jyn,’ the man called Saw clasped her arm in greeting. He wheezed like a century of chain smoking. ‘Is Krennic giving you trouble?’

‘He hired a mover to clear out Papa’s stuff,’ she told him. ‘This is Cassian. He’s…’

‘An electrician,’ Cassian finished, shaking Saw’s hand firmly. ‘The mover called me in for some wiring hazards.’

Jyn’s expression was somewhere between grateful and bemused that Cassian had the alibi ready. When Saw turned, Cassian shot her a look that hopefully said _how do you think I paid for the groceries?_

‘Have you found the will?’ Saw asked her.

‘Not yet,’ Jyn said. ‘But he left this on his desk: I think it’s important.’

Cassian marvelled at the understatement. Jyn unfolded the map and handed it to Saw.

‘What’s in the circles?’ she asked.

Saw studied the paper, leaning on his cane.

‘It covers a few parishes,’ he said. ‘I think most of Galen’s work with Empire Property would be inside the bigger circle.’

‘Did you say Empire Property?’ Cassian interjected.

‘Yes,’ Jyn said. ‘That’s Krennic’s company.’

‘Have you worked for them before?’ Saw asked.

‘No,’ Cassian shook his head quickly. ‘No, it just rings a bell.’

‘They’ve got developments all over Nottinghamshire,’ Saw twisted his computer monitor toward them, sitting down to open an interactive map. ‘He started all around the outer regions, and now he’s concentrating on the northwest.’

Jyn took one of Saw’s pens and marked the corresponding locations on the paper map. They didn’t match the circle perfectly, but they came close. Cassian squinted at it. If the spokes of the smaller circle were extended to meet the rim of the larger one, he’d bet they lined up with the Empire developments.

‘Why do you think he drew it like this?’ Jyn asked Saw. ‘Why not just mark the locations?’

‘Hard to say,’ Saw shook his head. ‘Maybe it helped him look at it differently. That’s Rogue Street in the smaller circle, yes?’

He zoomed in on his map.

‘Krennic’s made planning applications for redevelopments all around that area,’ Saw growled. ‘We’re fighting him on it, but that Rogue Street property is the last piece in the puzzle.’

‘Saw,’ Jyn laid her hands flat on his desk. ‘Is this why you hired the investigators? You think he…?’

Saw’s expression was pained, but he held Jyn’s eye.

‘I have a ten o’clock,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Alright,’ Jyn ducked her head, putting the map back in her pocket. ‘Can I call you?’

‘Of course,’ Saw took her hand for a moment. She stilled, then drew herself up.

‘Don’t let him have that house, Jyn,’ Saw warned her. ‘He knew damn well he needed it when he helped Galen buy it.’

Jyn nodded, and without another word, they left.

They were in the car, keys in the ignition, when Cassian hesitated. Jyn gave him an expectant look in the rearview mirror.

‘The company is called Empire Property,’ Cassian breathed.

‘Is that important?’ Jyn asked.

‘Could be,’ Kay replied. ‘It’s not exactly rare.’

‘Fuck me!’ Jyn scrambled back in alarm. ‘Is that a robot?’

‘Jyn, this is Kay,’ Cassian sighed. ‘Kay, be nice to Jyn.’

‘No.’

‘I thought it was a pile of scrap,’ Jyn said.

‘I _am_ a pile of scrap,’ Kay glared. He was exceptionally good at glaring.

‘He’s a sleep paralysis demon caught in a spirit trap,’ Cassian said. ‘This is just his hull.’

‘Oh, will you just _fuck off_ with this?’ Jyn kicked the back of Cassian’s seat. ‘You built an AI.’

‘Yeah,’ Cassian rolled his eyes. ‘I usually go with that.’

‘You’re unbelievable,’ Jyn got out her phone, while Cassian started the engine. ‘I’m not bringing you to Sainsbury’s.’


	4. God can’t help you now.

‘So,’ Jyn managed to draw a few syllables of derision out of the word. ‘Does _I’m an electrician_ usually work?’

‘Well, I’ve got a masters in electrical engineering,’ Cassian said. ‘So yeah.’

‘That explains the robot,’ she piled groceries on top of Cassian’s equipment.

‘It does, actually,’ Cassian said.

‘The robot parts, at least,’ Kay added, while Cassian pulled out of the carpark. They managed thirty seconds of blessed, steely silence.

‘Is _Kay_ a common name in hell?’ Jyn gave him a razor-thin smile.

‘It’s not really _hell,’_ Cassian said. ‘It’s more like an intra-dimensional netherworld we refer to as—‘

‘Kay is easier to pronounce,’ Kay interrupted. ‘For you.’

‘Oh?’ Jyn’s voice dripped with sarcasm. ‘How do _you_ pronounce it?’

Cassian slammed the brakes, veering towards the kerb. He almost made it in time.

.

k̶͙̭̹̩̬̼̇̀̋̊̕e̡͓̭̩͚͑͂͆̿͌͂̄͜ɪ̨͍͚̦͚̄̿̂͢͞͠:̷̧̡͈̻͎͍̟̼͈̥̏͌̾̋͛̌̿̕͞t̸̡̛͇̲͈̪̻̫̹͍͊̔́̋̔͘ư̷͙̠̟̺̻̼͋̌̄̄̃́͗͜͜͢͡͠ɛ͎̟̬̬̤́̅̆͛̍̉̾̌̅͟͝ș̶̢̰̮̀͂̈́͂̎͑͊̏͂͢o̵̧̢̩̯̝̥̘͋͗̓̇̑͑͟ʊ̠̱̮͉̻̦̅͐̊͐͂̽͋̀̾͘

He tugged his seatbelt off and tumbled out the door. The back door jammed and he swore, losing his balance as he yanked it open.

Most of Jyn’s vomit landed outside the van. Cassian dropped to his knees, letting the shuddering run its course. Jyn coughed, clutching the edges of the door and sobbing. Cassian wiped his eyes. He crawled to the water bottle he kept beside the handbrake. He gulped so hard it crinkled, splashing more over his face. He waved it at Jyn: her hands shook so hard she almost dropped it. For a few seconds she could only hold it to her lips, staring at Cassian in horror.

‘Keep it,’ he rasped, and climbed back into the driver’s seat. He listened to Jyn’s shaky breathing as it slowed down.

‘Was that…’ he panted, pressing his hands against the steering wheel, ‘ _Really_ necessary?’

‘She asked.’

‘I will put you in a Roomba,’ Cassian told him. ‘Don’t think I won’t.’

‘I bet she believes the demon parts now,’ Kay said.

Cassian turned in his seat, looking at Jyn. She didn’t speak, but she pulled the door shut. Cassian counted to ten, flexed his fingers until the knuckles cracked, and drove them back to Rogue Street.

‘Cassian.’

Her voice was so small. Cassian turned in his seat to face her properly.

‘What really happened to my father?’

‘I don’t know,’ he told her. ‘But we’re going to find out.’

At that moment, the front door broke off its hinges. Chirrut came flying out of it, crashing into the yew tree.

Jyn, Cassian, and Kay were out of the van in seconds.

‘Chirrut!’ Baze hollered, sprinting over the flagstones.

‘I’m okay,’ he groaned as they gathered around him. ‘We’ll charge Saw for damages.’

‘What the hell is going on in this house?!’ Jyn asked.

‘It’s not the house,’ Baze hauled Chirrut to his feet with one hand. ‘It’s the mover.’

The office window shattered, raining glass on their heads.

‘Bodhi?’ Cassian gasped.

‘Not anymore,’ Baze grunted.

Cassian ran inside. The floor was shaking, and there was a fist-sized hole in the plaster.

‘Bodhi!’ he called, and his voice echoed down the hall. The pitch of it raised as it bounced, and he had to clap his hands over his ears to block out the ringing.

Bodhi was standing at the top of the stairs. Only—it was almost Bodhi. If his nose were a little pointier, his eyes slightly larger. If his fingers had an extra joint and his elbows bent the opposite way. He smiled at Cassian with far too many teeth.

‘Bodhi!’ Cassian shouted again. ‘What have you done with him?’

Bodhi’s head tilted like he didn’t understand. He opened his mouth to speak, and made a sound like an angle grinder. The walls rattled with it. When they finally stopped, the hall was narrower than before.

‘It’s a big one,’ Baze appeared beside Cassian. ‘And it’s not listening.’

Baze gave Cassian a fortifying slap on the shoulder, and hurried into the front bedroom. Bodhi’s head snapped to watch.

‘Bodhi,’ Cassian spoke quietly, so the house wouldn’t reverberate. ‘Fight it. You can fight it.’

Bodhi slapped a hand against the wall. It didn’t stick, exactly: his limbs _flowed_ onto the surface like a viscous liquid, and the shape that used to be Bodhi spilled along the wall. It pooled at the foot of the stairs, reforming. Cassian shuddered as human features slid back into his face.

It had forgotten the eyes. They were milky, thick with cataracts. The lashes were slicked and slimy, as if the whites were leaking. The demon drew a rattling gasp, and lurched forward. It bared its teeth, angling toward Cassian’s hand. Specifically, Cassian’s papercut.

‘Kay...’ Cassian’s voice trembled as he stumbled back. _‘Kay!’_

His heel caught on the doormat. He flailed and thumped into solid metal.

‘Oh, we should leave,’ Kay said.

Baze came back, carrying something that looked for all the world like a rice cooker.

‘You should,’ he agreed. He held his fist in front of his face, and to the demon, he went: ‘Hey!’

Bodhi’s shoulders jerked in Baze’s direction. Baze blew a handful of dust in Bodhi’s face.

The scream ripped plaster off the walls. Bodhi’s skin rippled as the demon convulsed. Kay grabbed Cassian’s arm, pulling him back.

‘We’re not leaving Bodhi!’ Cassian said.

‘That’s an Interrogator,’ Kay said. ‘Demons have nightmares about demons like that.’

‘How do we get it out?’ Cassian let himself be manhandled.

‘How the fuck should I know?’ Kay asked. ‘It shouldn’t have been able to get _in.’_

Cassian considered the broken spirit trap upstairs. Then he considered his chance of getting past the seething mass Kay had called an Interrogator.

 _‘We_ get it out,’ Chirrut announced. He stood beside Baze, feet spread wide and ready.

The demon roared at him. Chirrut whirled, hands moving faster than Cassian could follow. He whipped out his cane, swinging it in a circle: it swooped so fast the air barked in its wake. The shape Chirrut drew corralled the demon, while Baze shouldered something that Cassian, at first glance, mistook for a bazooka.

Jyn yelled _‘Fuck!’_ from somewhere outside, on his behalf.

The air exploded with dust. Cassian gagged, wiping his eyes. There were thumps and bangs that sounded like fighting, and something grabbed the back of Cassian’s shirt. He twisted, clawing at it until he realised the hand was metal. Kay dumped him on the porch.

Kay spoke. Cassian curled up instinctively. His muscles twitched and seized with the sound, and when the demon replied, Cassian felt the trickle of blood in his ears. He cracked one eye open: Baze and Chirrut looked shaken, but they were still standing.

The dust whipped into a spiral, moving like a miniature tornado. Chirrut circled around it, and it took Cassian a moment to realise it was _reacting_ to Chirrut’s movements.

Baze was speaking a language Cassian didn’t recognise. The dust changed from yellow to grey as it surrounded Bodhi. Cassian could only catch glimpses from inside: the sleeve of a jumpsuit, a collarbone, black hair whipping free of the ponytail. Chirrut raised a fist in the air, and dived, striking it hard into the carpet with a shout. The dust fell immediately to the floor. Baze helped Chirrut back up. Both of them were sweating, gasping for breath.

Bodhi was crumpled at the foot of the stairs.

Cassian ran to him, and Baze blocked his path. Chirrut pressed a thumb to Bodhi’s forehead.

‘It’s gone,’ he said.

‘Should we take him to a hospital?’ Cassian asked. He touched Bodhi’s chest, feeling the shallow rise and fall.

‘There’s nothing they could do,’ Chirrut said. ‘Once he wakes up, we keep him awake. He’ll need to eat.’

The ring of dust sputtered, and there was a wet sucking noise.

‘Move!’ Baze warned him.

Cassian grabbed Bodhi by the armpits and dragged him out of the circle. The dust had turned into a black and sticky substance, bubbling as it ate through the floorboards. They all watched as it smoked and spat, leaving a mark in the hall like the world’s biggest coffee stain.

Bodhi was still unconscious, a dead weight in Cassian’s lap.

‘Will he be okay?’ Cassian murmured. He tucked a sweaty strand of hair behind Bodhi’s ear.

‘Perhaps. It couldn’t keep a grip on him,’ Chirrut sighed. ‘It’s as your Watcher said: it shouldn’t have been able to exist here.’

‘How did it happen?’

‘He’s a strong vessel,’ Baze shrugged. ‘It must have come in after Galen’s ghost.’

Kay made a noise like a snort. ‘That’s like leaving your door open for the cat, and a kraken lets itself in.’

‘Kay,’ Cassian nodded to him, and Kay helped him pick Bodhi up. ‘Was it Imperial?’

‘No,’ Kay said, cradling Bodhi in a bridal carry. ‘It was feral. It had no purpose; it just tore through.’

‘How?’ Chirrut asked.

‘The veil is thin here,’ Baze pointed out.

’Not _that_ thin,’ Kay said. He ducked through the lounge room doorway, and slipped Bodhi into an armchair. Cassian set about propping him up with pillows, while Baze and Chirrut packed up their weapons.

‘Cassian,’ Kay kept his voice low. ‘There’s something else.’

Cassian raised an eyebrow.

‘It knew me,’ Kay said.

‘What?’ Cassian’s heart pounded.

‘It knew you, as well,’ he said. ‘It _hated_ you.’

‘Why?’ Cassian glanced at Bodhi, who was still asleep. ‘Because I’m marked?’

‘Your mark’s faded,’ Kay shook his head. ‘I doubt it could tell. This was recent: it was personal.’

‘Is he alright?’

Cassian jumped. Jyn was standing at the lounge room door, hugging her elbows.

‘Chirrut thinks so,’ Cassian said. ‘Are you?’

Jyn gave him a wobbly smile, nodding like that would make it true.

‘Suddenly, it’s real for you?’ he guessed.

Her face crumpled as she tried to form the words. ’Is it like this? All the time?’

Cassian checked Bodhi was safely nestled in the armchair, and stood.

‘No,’ he said. ’There’s something very wrong with this house.’

Jyn was shivering. He offered an arm, and Jyn fell into the embrace. Her tears were wet on his shoulder, and he rubbed her back.

Bodhi groaned. Both of them jerked in alarm, stumbling away. He blinked at them, then at the unfamiliar room.

‘Is there still pizza?’ he mumbled, stretching his limbs out. A lot of joints went _pop._ ‘I’m _starving.’_


	5. I couldn’t afford a therapist so I decided, hey, why not start a podcast?

Keeping Bodhi awake was not an easy task. He was wobbly on his feet, needing his arm slung around Cassian as they took him to the kitchen. In the time it took to make him coffee, his chin fell to his chest. Kay took to standing next to him, prodding him whenever he went quiet.

‘Mm?’ he sloshed cold coffee on his hands when Kay poked him for the fourth time. ‘Sorry.’

‘Don’t apologise,’ Cassian handed him a towel, and a banana. ‘Eat.’

Bodhi blinked at his mug as he dried his fingers. ‘Does this have milk? I’m—‘

‘Lactose intolerant,’ Cassian said. ‘We got soy pods while you were…’

‘Playing host,’ Kay supplied.

Bodhi peeled the banana very slowly. ‘I didn’t m—mean to.’

‘We know,’ Baze said gently.

‘Has it ever happened before?’ Chirrut asked.

Bodhi shook his head, taking a tentative bite of banana.

‘So you’re…’ he narrowed his eyes at Kay. ‘A demon robot?’

Kay sighed. ‘More or less.’

‘Okay,’ Bodhi said. Cassian guessed this reality was much easier to accept after experiencing a category four possession.

‘Banana,’ Jyn reminded him, and Bodhi stared at the fruit he was holding like he’d never seen it before. Once he’d taken a bite, Jyn went to fight with a door across the hall.

‘Cupboard’s on the left,’ Cassian reminded her.

‘It fucking isn’t!’ she shouted back. Cassian craned his neck to see she was correct. He couldn’t tell what she was looking for, because at that moment Bodhi swooned onto his shoulder and Cassian had to gently shake him awake.

‘Hey, big boy,’ Jyn reappeared holding a power drill. ‘Help me with this.’

There was a short period of confusion where Baze was halfway out of his seat, and Bodhi gave her a worried look.

 _‘Me?’_ Kay asked.

‘You lifted Cassian,’ Jyn pointed the drill down the hall. ‘You can lift a hardwood door.’

Kay looked at Cassian. Cassian shrugged, concentrating all his willpower on saying nothing about _big boy._ Kay silently followed Jyn to the front door. Soon there was a comfortingly mundane chorus of thumps and droning and Jyn declaring: ‘That’ll have to do.’

Kay returned to keep-awake duty: Cassian could vouch for Kay’s abilities there. He vacuumed the hall and stairs until the dust, natural or supernatural, was at least manageable. He pushed the vacuum at the floor in the burnt black circle, and it didn’t open a portal into hell or compromise the building’s integrity, so he took a lounge room rug and lay it over the hole so at least Chirrut wouldn’t trip on it.

After the fifth coffee, Bodhi was marginally better. Cassian hoped he would never reach such a state that five coffees was an improvement. Baze and Chirrut spent the afternoon giving Bodhi a crash course in psychic barriers, while Jyn and Cassian returned to the office. Short of calling a glazier, there wasn’t much to do about the window except staple the curtains to the wall and hope it didn’t rain. That done, they turned the room upside down in search of Galen’s will.

‘Are you sure he had one?’ Cassian asked, rifling through stacks of blueprints.

‘Certain,’ Jyn tossed a manila folder on the floor. ‘He drew one up after my mum died.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Cassian said. ’It must have been hard on you both.’

‘Shit,’ Jyn paused. ‘Means I’m an orphan.’

‘You hadn’t thought about it?’ Cassian guessed.

Jyn flicked slowly through the next folder. ‘Not until now.’

‘If it makes you feel any better,’ Cassian didn’t look up from the cabinet, ‘I am too.’

‘Not really,’ Jyn said, but she gave him a sympathetic smile.

‘Mine died both at once,’ Cassian said. ‘At least they didn’t have to live without each other.’

‘I still had my dad,’ Jyn sighed. ‘Did you have anyone?’

She hopped on one foot, trying to grab a box from a high shelf. Cassian reached over her and pulled it down.

‘My abuela,’ Cassian said. ‘Aunts and uncles.’

Jyn flicked through the tabs on each file in the box. Cassian tilted his head in confusion, then realised the writing was Danish. He set to work getting the other boxes down so Jyn could search them.

‘She was killed,’ Jyn said, out of the blue.

‘Your mother?’

‘A car accident,’ Jyn continued. ‘They’d been at a party, drinking.’

Cassian squeezed her shoulder, and she headbutted his forearm.

‘Krennic was driving them home.’

‘Shit.’

‘I know,’ Jyn looked up at him. ‘The other driver was at fault.’

She didn’t sound like she believed it.

‘This isn’t just about the house,’ Cassian realised.

‘This _fucking_ house,’ Jyn threw a bulldog clip at the wall, with vindication. ‘It’s not here. He kept all his important documents in one box. Birth certificates, deeds, visas. This is all work stuff.’

‘Did you try his room?’

‘Combed every inch of it last night,’ she said.

‘Krennic could have let himself in before he gave the keys to Bodhi,’ Cassian pointed out.

‘Then he’ll have hidden the will, if he didn’t destroy it,’ Jyn said. ‘Saw thinks I could contest ownership, if neither of us can prove who he left it to.’

‘Provided the house doesn’t kill us first,’ Cassian said.

After they’d gone through every sheet of paper in the office, including the ones on the desk covered in sigils, they came back downstairs to find Bodhi, Baze, Chirrut, and Kay playing Up And Down The River.

‘Who’s winning?’ Jyn asked. Bodhi waved his hand.

‘Chirrut cheats,’ Kay said.

‘It’s a handicap,’ Chirrut replied. Jyn’s face suggested she didn’t know whether she was allowed to laugh.

‘They’re braille cards,’ Baze elbowed him. ‘He just cheats.’

‘I’m still winning,’ Bodhi murmured. He had a sly smile Cassian had never seen until now, and he caught Cassian watching. The bags under Bodhi’s eyes had bags under them, but Cassian found himself immeasurably grateful that the irises were back to their usual inky black.

‘Pasta?’ Cassian asked, so he had an excuse to hide his burning face in the cupboard. The group let out a chorus of approval—with the exception of ’no, Bodhi, no cheese on yours’—and Cassian filled a pot with water.

_Plop._

He frowned, turning the tap off.

_Plop._

He looked up.

_Plop._

‘Is the bathroom above us?’ he looked at the ceiling. Another drop of water landed in the sink. The paint was beginning to stain in a circle around it.

‘Bathroom’s on the other side,’ Jyn said. Cassian pointed at the damp ceiling.

‘I’ll check it,’ Baze sighed, putting his cards down. To Chirrut, he said: ‘No peeking.’

‘Darling, I don’t need to,’ Chirrut squeezed Baze’s hand as it slid across his shoulder. ‘You’re an open book.’

‘Wait,’ Cassian took out his phone. ‘Put your number in. Call me so we can find the spot.’

Baze took the phone, punched it in, and Cassian texted him. Ten seconds after Baze left the kitchen, Cassian’s phone buzzed.

‘Northeast corner, right?’ Baze asked. ‘I’m in Jyn’s room.’

Cassian pursed his lips. ‘Did anything spill?’

Jyn bustled around him, setting a container next to the sink to catch any errant drips.

‘Looks dry,’ Baze said. ‘Could be a burst pipe.’

‘How close is the bathroom?’ Cassian asked.

‘Other side of the landing,’ Baze reported. ‘Above the downstairs bathroom.’

‘It’s an old house,’ Jyn reasoned. ‘Been remodelled a lot. It’s gonna have weird plumbing.’

Cassian hissed through his teeth. ‘Okay. Thanks, Baze.’

He stayed on the line until Baze was back. Just in case.

‘If a poltergeist crawls out while I’m making bolognese,’ he told Jyn, ‘You’re dealing with it.’

They spent the rest of the evening watching movies in the lounge, once Jyn had unboxed and reconnected the television. Cassian used the time to set up environmental sensors in the every room, pointedly ignoring the way the doorknobs rattled after he shut them. He checked the blood samples he’d fed to the ectoplasm detector: the readout said human, and that was a forensic dead end. It was midnight before Chirrut decided Bodhi could be trusted to sleep without accidentally ripping another hole in the fabric of reality.

‘We’ll set up wards,’ he explained. ‘Baze makes the best kind.’

Baze lowered his face, as if flustered. He hauled the rice cooker upstairs to the starry room.

‘Um,’ Bodhi rubbed his thumb on the inside of the opposite elbow. ‘Before you do…’

‘Hmm?’ Baze crouched, rather than coming back down the stairs.

‘I’d sort of, I’d—rather not be alone,’ Bodhi said. ‘If that’s alright.’’

He glanced at Cassian, embarrassed.

‘Understandable,’ Chirrut said. ‘You want us to set up another bed?’

‘Actually,’ Bodhi scratched his nose. ‘I thought, maybe, Kay?’

The hinge of Kay’s helmet creaked in surprise.

‘Only if you’re not…’ Bodhi fretted. ‘I just mean: you don’t sleep, right? You can keep an eye out.’

Chirrut snorted. Cassian glared at him, which had no effect whatsoever.

‘I could,’ Kay said, before Cassian could get a word in.

‘Are you in, or are you out?’ Baze growled. ‘I’d need to set the wards for him.’

‘Kay has to be wherever I’m sleeping,’ Cassian blurted out. ‘He watches me.’

Jyn’s mouth was a tight line of amusement. Chirrut was grinning.

‘It’s a thing,’ Cassian wrinkled his nose as his own words reached his ears.

Bodhi’s eyebrows formed a complicated shape. ‘A thing?’

‘He’s _my_ sleep paralysis demon,’ Cassian said, and it sounded a lot more possessive than he planned.

‘He’s _my_ human,’ Kay said.

‘So how does it work?’ Jyn’s eyes shifted between them. ‘Like a guardian angel?’

‘Basically,’ Cassian said. ‘But worse.’

‘And angels don’t exist,’ Kay said.

‘Right!’ Jyn slapped her thigh. ‘Of course they don’t.’

‘I can watch over you,’ Kay turned to Bodhi, ‘If Cassian’s in the room.’

‘Oh,’ Bodhi nodded a little too long. ‘That’s okay. Is it okay?’

‘Sure,’ Cassian shoved his hands in his pockets. ‘I’ll lay out some couch cushions.’

‘I mean, it’s a double mattress,’ Bodhi said. _‘Your_ double mattress.’

‘Easier to ward,’ Baze added, and the matter was settled with him heading the rest of the way upstairs.

Cassian dropped his duffel bag at the door of the room. Baze didn’t look up from chalking symbols into the floorboards.

‘So, you and Chirrut…’ he said.

‘Been together for twenty years,’ Baze answered.

‘Oh,’ Cassian crossed his arms. ‘Oh, that’s good. I meant, though, uh, you’re what? Exorcists?’

That was one thing Jyn had right about this business: it was mostly a grift. Between the con artists and the conspiracy theorists, Cassian had never actually met someone who _knew_ about all of it.

‘Guardians,’ Baze corrected him.

‘Right,’ Cassian nodded. ‘You stop things from breaking through?’

Baze sat back on his heels, surveying his work.

‘Watcher!’ he called. ‘I need to finish the circle.’

The stairs groaned under Kay’s slow, methodical step.

‘Does Saw Gerrera know?’ Cassian asked.

‘He knew enough to hire us,’ Baze shrugged. ‘He believes that Krennic believes it.’

Kay loomed in the doorway. Bodhi loomed somewhat less behind him. Baze gestured to the circle around the bed, and Kay stepped into it.

‘Hmm,’ Kay mused. ‘Tingles.’

Cassian let out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding. Baze continued drawing.

‘Should we, you know, pee before you shut us in?’ Bodhi asked.

‘You can leave the circle,’ Baze said. ‘It’s just chalk.’

‘Okay,’ Bodhi’s face dropped, and he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. ‘I’m gonna, just, do that anyway.’

And he disappeared into the bathroom, presumably to expire from embarrassment.

‘Comfortable?’ Cassian asked Kay. He rummaged through his bag for a towel, a clean t-shirt, and tracksuit bottoms that should have been relegated to sleepwear long before tonight.

‘I live in an oil barrel with stolen prosthetics,’ Kay reminded him. ‘No.’

‘They weren’t _stolen,’_ Cassian muttered, mostly for Baze’s benefit. ‘They’re recycled.’

Kay rotated his wrist, and the screech set Cassian’s teeth on edge.

 _‘Is that another ghost?!’_ came Jyn’s yell.

‘It’s Kay!’ Cassian shouted back. To Kay, he said: ‘You can have some WD-40 in the morning.’

‘This is done,’ Baze declared. ‘Don’t rub it out.’

Cassian saluted, and headed to the bathroom. Bodhi opened the door, frowning briefly when he noticed the towel.

‘You’re gonna shower?’ he raised an eyebrow.

‘Do you… not want me to shower?’ Cassian fought every instinct to sniff himself again. It had been a day and a half, and not a good day and a half. He wasn’t planning to inflict himself on his own mattress, let alone with Bodhi on it.

‘The shower Galen died in, where the glass keeps exploding?’ Bodhi reminded him. ‘Maybe use the one downstairs?’

Cassian hugged his towel closer to his chest. ‘I’m gonna use the one downstairs.’

He stayed long enough to take the toothbrush he’d requisitioned that morning. The shattered mirror split his reflection into pieces, each moving slightly differently. Cassian shook his head, and hurried downstairs. The shower went cold after two minutes, but he smelt better, and his teeth were clean. The lower bathroom seemed ordinary so far, but Cassian checked the sensor to be sure.

Bodhi was already under the covers when Cassian returned. He gave Cassian a weary smile and slid his phone onto the floor.

‘Lights?’ Cassian asked.

‘Mm-hmm.’

Cassian flicked them off, using the light of his phone to find the charger and plug it in next to Bodhi’s. Then he crawled into the bed.

‘All clear, Kay?’ he asked.

‘Let him rest,’ Kay replied.

Bodhi snorted softly. Cassian tried to settle without jostling him, but the air in the mattress shifted with every movement. It wasn’t a generous double: Cassian’s shin brushed against Bodhi’s knee. Bodhi didn’t pull away. He was curled loosely, forearms together in front of him. The glow-in-the-dark stars cast just enough light that Cassian could see how Bodhi’s hair spilled loose across his pillow.

The air was warm between them. Cassian let out a heavy breath.

‘Hey,’ Bodhi murmured, the syllable softened with exhaustion.

‘Yeah?’ Cassian rotated an ankle until it popped, and went still again.

‘Does Kay have to watch you every night?’

‘Yep,’ Cassian sighed.

‘Does that mean…?’

‘Yes,’ Kay informed him. ‘I’ve seen _all_ of it.’

‘That must be…’ Bodhi fumbled with his pillow, rolling it up and settling it down closer to Cassian’s. He stretched his legs out, and when he relaxed again, one foot slipped between Cassian’s. ‘Difficult?’

‘I’m used to it,’ Cassian said. ‘He is too.’

‘How do people deal with it?’ Bodhi asked. ‘Partners, and stuff?’

‘My relationships don’t tend to last that long,’ Cassian told him. ‘Because of the demon robot, and stuff.’

‘Yes, that’s the only reason,’ Kay added. Cassian opened his mouth to tell him to shut up, but Bodhi chuckled. ‘Nothing to do with the full spectrum 120fps camera you keep beside the bed.’

‘There’s always bars, if I want some privacy with a guy,’ Cassian yawned into his hand. When he put it back down on the mattress, it landed next to Bodhi’s. He breathed, and felt Bodhi’s knuckles shift until they lined up between Cassian’s.

‘Ironic,’ Bodhi mused.

‘Hmm?’ Cassian scratched his belly, hooking his arm around his middle. The air in the bedroom was chilly.

‘Just, a public place,’ Bodhi echoed Cassian’s yawn. ‘Being private.’

Cassian exhaled. Bodhi hadn’t somehow guessed that it felt stranger for Cassian when Kay _wasn’t_ there. Better to leave the intimate details of his demonically co-dependent sex life up to the imagination. Kay, for once, didn’t say anything either. It was the thing they didn’t talk about.

Cassian might have replied to Bodhi, or he might have drifted off. He knew Bodhi’s palm had turned to lay on top of his, and the warmest part of the bed was where their legs touched.

Then the floor swooped out from under them, and Cassian gasped into consciousness.

‘Sorry,’ Bodhi said. ‘Hypnic jerk.’

 _‘What_ jerk?’ Cassian blinked. The stars had gone out.

‘It’s that twitch when you dream that you’re falling,’ Bodhi said. ‘Did you get one too?’

‘Yeah,’ the adrenaline was turning sour in Cassian’s veins.

‘Hmm,’ Bodhi burrowed under the duvet. He pulled it in such a way that it wrapped Cassian up too.

‘Go back to sleep,’ Kay suggested. With Bodhi nestling closer, his breath warm on Cassian’s hands, it was easy to follow.

Some time before dawn, the lights switched on.

‘Jyn?’ Cassian flung an arm over his face, trying to block out some of the glare. Bodhi stirred, but he didn’t wake up.

There was nobody else in the room. The bulb hummed.

‘Kay?’ Cassian whispered. Kay’s head was turned toward the switch.

‘It’s outside the circle,’ Kay’s vocabulator whirred, his voice was so quiet.

‘What do we do? Cassian breathed.

‘Stay inside the circle.’

The light began to dim. Cassian’s heart hammered in his throat as he stared at the door. The handle didn’t move, and as the gloom settled back in, the room remained still. Eventually, only the stars on the ceiling remained, casting the room in faint green angles. Cassian didn’t fall asleep again for much longer than that.

*

There were no earthquakes the second morning. Cassian woke up with Bodhi wrapped around him like a vine. His open mouth was pressed to the nape of Cassian’s neck, leaving huffs of warmth on Cassian’s skin. There was a hand squashed against Cassian’s kidneys and another splayed across his belly. Bodhi’s knee was wedged into the crook of Cassian’s. He was a little short to be the big spoon, but he made up for it with enthusiasm. Cassian grinned, cracking one eye open to search for Kay.

Kay cocked his head in greeting. Cassian raised an eyebrow at the silence: obviously Kay’s squeaky dramatics the night before were exaggerated. They had a wordless conversation about neither of them wanting to wake Bodhi, the absence of malevolent entities in the room, and why Bodhi had taken such a liking to Kay.

Bodhi stirred, licking his lips: Cassian tried not to shiver. Bodhi mumbled and stretched, pulling all the blankets—and himself—away from Cassian in the process. Cassian growled, curling up tightly to preserve what little heat remained, and Bodhi made unintelligible apologetic noises, piling the bedding on top of Cassian.

‘Good morning,’ said Kay.

Cassian, from under his mountain, scowled. Kay hadn’t said _good morning_ to him in years.

‘Any demons out there?’ Bodhi asked.

‘Just me,’ Kay said.

There was a pause. Cassian needed it.

‘Any in me?’ Bodhi asked.

‘You’re safe.’

‘Thank you,’ Bodhi said, and he sounded _fond,_ and Cassian pressed the heel of his palm against his mouth. ’Want me to get Baze to break the circle for you?’

‘You can break it,’ Kay told him. ‘Just scuff the line.’

‘Okay,’ Bodhi said, and a hand rested gently on Cassian’s shoulder. ‘Hey, Cassian? You awake?’

Cassian let Bodhi’s thumb rub a pattern on his collarbone through the blankets. Then he emerged.

‘Uh-huh?’ he said. He avoided Kay’s stare.

‘I’m getting up,’ Bodhi said.

‘I’ll make breakfast,’ Cassian promised. ‘You like spinach? Mushrooms?’

‘I like the lot,’ Bodhi’s face lit up, and he clambered off the mattress. ‘I’m gonna see if the shower’s free.’

‘You need some clothes?’ Cassian asked.

‘Shit,’ Bodhi realised he did.

‘Mine should fit,’ Cassian gestured at his bag. ‘Take whatever’s… not got holes.’

Bodhi found a pair of cargoes and a 3 Inches Of Blood t-shirt with an unraveling hem. Cassian gave him a thumbs-up, and Bodhi scuffed out the chalk circle for Kay before heading downstairs.

Kay stood impassively.

‘What?’ Cassian said.

‘What?’ Kay replied.

Cassian, still thinking about whatever the hell just happened between Bodhi and Kay, stumbled into the office before realising it wasn’t the bathroom. By the time he’d course-corrected, he could hear Jyn’s door creaking open.

‘Morning,’ she muttered. The sleeves of her hoodie dangled long over her hands. ‘Anything weird happen?’

‘Usual-weird,’ Cassian told her. ‘I think we’re all alive.’

‘Ugh,’ she stretched, then nudged past him into the bathroom.

Cassian dressed, and went downstairs to check he was right. Baze and Chirrut were in the kitchen, their heads pressed to the wall as they rapped on it.

‘What are you doing?’ Cassian asked.

‘Investigating,’ Chirrut said.

‘You want eggs?’ Cassian lit the stove.

’I’ll do smoothies,’ Baze said.

Cassian set the Tassimo going while he threw everything in the frying pan. When Bodhi appeared, filling Cassian’s clothes in unusual and distracting ways, Cassian had coffees and a fry-up ready for him and Jyn.

‘You’re _really_ good at this,’ Bodhi said, loading an ambitious number of mushrooms on his fork. Jyn made a noise of agreement, made incomprehensible by sausage. Cassian shrugged: it had endeared him to housemates past, who tolerated the robot.

The moment Bodhi had finished washing up, Jyn climbed onto the bench. She produced a hammer from her hoodie pocket, and before Cassian could ask how long it had been there, she smashed a hole in the ceiling.

Everybody flinched, except Kay.

‘What are you _doing?’_ Cassian asked. Jyn reached into the hole she’d made and pulled away a chunk of plaster.

‘Finding that leak,’ she muttered, feeling the piece before tossing it on the floor.

‘With a hammer?’ Cassian put a hand over his fresh cup of tea to keep the dust out of it.

‘Unless you’ve got a magic x-ray in your bag of tricks?’ she said. ‘It’s _my_ house.’

She ripped more plaster out, using the claw end of the hammer to remove all the pieces that were stained.

‘Careful,’ Bodhi backed toward the dining table. ‘If there’s black mould…’

Jyn showed him the back side of the plaster: it was stained, but not rotted.

She stood on her tip-toes, reaching into the ceiling. Kay moved silently to stand underneath her. Cassian wasn’t sure if it was to grab her if she fell, or if she disappeared up there. He didn’t like the idea of either.

‘I can’t…’ she took out her phone and turned the light on. Kay wrapped a hand around her calf, and she poked her head through the hole again.

‘Not a single pipe,’ she reported. There was a scrabbling sound as she moved her arm. ‘It’s all dry.’

She turned, slowly and awkwardly, doing a full sweep of the inside of the ceiling. Cassian hadn’t realised how far he’d retreated until he stepped on Bodhi’s toes.

‘Wait,’ Jyn said. ‘There’s something further in…’

‘Oh, fuck no,’ Bodhi muttered.

‘I can’t see it,’ Jyn clicked her tongue. ‘Kay, give me a boost.’

Kay held onto her feet as she stepped on his shoulders.

‘Jyn…’ Chirrut’s voice quavered.

‘I think it‘s moving,’ Jyn told them. ‘Cassian, have you got some kind of—?’

The knocking made all of them jump. Jyn swore, and Kay eased her down as she rubbed a spot on her head. The knock sounded again, faster this time.

‘It’s the door,’ Bodhi sagged as he realised. ‘Someone’s at the door.’

Jyn scowled. ‘I’ll get it.’

They all trailed after her down the hallway. Cassian realised, a second after she opened the door, how bizarre it must look.

‘What the fuck do you want?’ Jyn snarled. Cassian peeked around her to see a steel-haired man with a withering smile.

‘Jyn!’ he was gratingly nasal. ‘Good morning.’

‘It _was,’_ she snapped.

‘I see you found a set of keys,’ his eyes darted to the door’s hastily-repaired hinge.

‘It’s _my_ house, Krennic.’

She was still holding the hammer, claw-side pointing at him.

‘Well, the paperwork’s giving us some difficulties on that,’ he told her. ‘Did you happen to speak to the mover?’

Bodhi shrank further behind the door.

‘What, the mover you got in to take _my_ possessions?’ Jyn said.

‘Not _take_ them,’ Krennic corrected her. _‘Collect_ them for you.’

‘You had no right!’ Jyn scoffed.

‘Well, with you off abroad…’ Krennic shrugged.

‘I was in fucking Edinburgh!’

Cassian bit hard on his lip to keep quiet.

‘How was I to know you were interested in the house?’ Krennic’s voice was oilier than a chip shop. ‘Galen mentioned you’d never seen it.’

‘Oh, fuck you,’ Jyn said. ‘He visited me.’

‘Right,’ Krennic said. ‘Well, I’m sure we can arrange a purchase, if you’ve got your heart set on the property.’

 _‘Purchase?!’_ Jyn actually lifted the hammer. ‘He left it to me!’

‘Oh, you found the will?’ Krennic clapped his hands together. Baze shifted forward, and Chirrut elbowed him back. ‘Marvellous. Do tell me if you need some help with the council tax.’

‘I’m his daughter,’ Jyn said. ‘Can you prove he _didn’t_ leave it to me?’

‘Well, you know, red tape…’

‘You can stick red tape up your arse,’ Jyn said. ‘I live here.’

‘Oh,’ Krennic smiled. ‘And I suppose these gentlemen do as well?’

‘They’re my housemates,’ Jyn swung the door open, so they were in full view of Krennic.

‘Isn’t that the mover?’ Krennic’s brow wrinkled.

‘Yes,’ Jyn snapped. ‘He’s Bodhi, and we love him.’

She slammed the door in Krennic’s face. There was a crunching sound that suggested the hinges were no longer fixed.


	6. I'm three ounces of whoop-ass.

_‘Housemates?’_ Cassian repeated.

‘What?’ Jyn pointed the hammer at him, and Cassian ducked out of its path. ‘Have you got somewhere else to be?’

‘It’s more of a living room floor situation,’ Kay emerged from the kitchen. _‘I_ prefer it here. I get to talk to people.’

Cassian considered the likelihood of the floor swallowing him up. It didn’t.

‘Our office is in London,’ Chirrut said. ’This is certainly a better commute.’

‘I live alone,’ Bodhi supplied. ‘And I’d sort of rather… not. Since yesterday.’

Baze patted him on the shoulder, in case Jyn’s declaration of _we love him_ hadn’t sunk in yet.

‘I could really use some clothes, though?’ Bodhi gave Cassian an apologetic look. Cassian tried to silently convey that he understood why 3 Inches Of Blood shirts weren’t for everyone. ‘If you think I’m…’

‘Not going to get possessed by another soul-rending demon?’ Kay phrased it as both a guess and an assurance. As an afterthought, he added: ‘Or Jyn’s father.’

‘I’ll drive you,’ Cassian said, because after the couch comment he’d take any opportunity to remind everyone he had life skills.

‘Are you sure?’ Bodhi’s entire posture was hopeful.

‘You’re still recovering,’ Baze told him. ‘Don’t drive.’

‘I never drive after a possession,’ Chirrut solemnly informed him. It was Baze’s lack of poker face that gave the joke away.

Chirrut’s advice, however facetious, was solid. Bodhi told Cassian his address and promptly fell asleep in the passenger seat. Cassian drove in silence, and in half an hour he’d found Bodhi’s block of flats. It was the kind of generic, impermanent living Cassian knew from his student years.

‘Mm?’ Bodhi blinked slowly when Cassian nudged him awake.

Cassian dug under the seat and found an energy drink. He checked the expiry date, and handed it to Bodhi. Bodhi took it, pulled a face, and said: ‘I’ll make you tea.’

That was how Cassian discovered Bodhi’s apartment had twenty kinds of tea and a really comfortable couch. Cassian cradled his mug and let the steam warm his nose. Bodhi appeared with a full backpack and a henley significantly tighter than the t-shirt Cassian had loaned him. Cassian’s clothes were folded neatly in his arms. He paused for a second, staring at the bookshelf.

‘Sorry,’ he shook his head after a moment. ‘It just… it’s been _two days.’_

‘Feels like longer?’ Cassian guessed.

Bodhi nodded. ‘It’s so… normal.’

Bodhi’s fingers dug into the clothes.

‘And I’m not,’ he exhaled. Once he’d said it out loud, his stance was looser.

‘That first day, you said you knew when things were weird,’ Cassian reminded him. ‘Have there been other times?’

A quiet way to say: _you’re still you._

‘Nothing like this,’ Bodhi bit his lip.

‘This was extreme,’ Cassian assured him. ‘You’re sensitive, though. Baze and Chirrut must have told you.’

‘Mm,’ Bodhi agreed, his eyes trailing across the furniture as he took it in. Cassian washed their mugs before Bodhi could give himself another job.

‘That was good tea,’ he told Bodhi. ‘What was it?’

‘Oolong and nougat,’ Bodhi said. ‘I could bring the tin?’

‘You’re really kind,’ it slipped out of Cassian. ‘Do people tell you that?’

‘My mum would,’ Bodhi nodded.

And his eyes shone a little too bright, and his heart broke a little in his voice, and Cassian let running water fill the silence.

‘She used to sing,’ Bodhi murmured. ‘Every day, just making up songs around the house. Even when she got sick.’

Cassian guessed the rest before Bodhi found the words to continue.

‘After she died…’ Bodhi looked at Cassian.

‘Yeah,’ Cassian nodded. ‘I understand.’

‘Was it like that with your mum?’ Bodhi asked.

Jyn was the only person Cassian had told about his mother: Bodhi was more sensitive than he realised.

‘No,’ Cassian busied himself with the tea towel. ‘I don’t sense things.’

‘Oh,’ Bodhi's eyes widened. ‘I’m sorry, I just assumed…’

‘It’s okay,’ Cassian smiled wryly. ‘Most people do. Helps with the whole investigator thing.’

‘Yeah,’ Bodhi’s face twisted in puzzlement. ‘How do you manage, if you can’t…?’

‘I measure it,’ Cassian shrugged, drying his hands. ‘There’s ways to do it empirically. There has to be.’

‘Makes sense,’ Bodhi said. He reached over Cassian to get the tin of tea from the shelf. It brought them so close, Cassian’s heart skipped a beat. Bodhi paused halfway through putting the tea in his backpack.

‘Could you measure me?’ he asked.

Cassian couldn’t quite hide his surprise. ‘I didn’t think you’d want me to.’

‘I think…’ Bodhi grabbed his keys and shouldered his bag. ‘I like the idea that you can prove I haven’t gone completely fucking mental.’

‘Well, I can at least prove that I have too,’ Cassian quipped.

Bodhi chuckled. He didn’t hesitate when he locked his door behind them.

*

Kay had to open the front door for them. They hauled in armfuls of testing equipment.

‘Where do you wanna do this?’ Bodhi asked.

‘Somewhere comfortable,’ Cassian tipped backwards to stop the homemade EEG from sliding to the floor. ‘I’d say no interference, but that’s optimistic.’

‘There’s always the sunroom,’ Jyn stuck her head out of the kitchen.

‘The what?’

’Back door, turn left,’ she hurried ahead of them.

’The back points north,’ Bodhi said.

Jyn shrugged. ‘The plants don’t seem to care.’

She steered them out into the weed-riddled backyard, and into a glasshouse built against the back wall. There were wicker chairs and an abundance of potted herbs. Ivy smothered the glass, a few vines sneaking inside. Cassian set his gear down on a hewn wood table. The gardening equipment had a vague air of menace, but Cassian chalked that up to most of it being heavy and sharp.

‘Jyn,’ Bodhi touched the brick. ‘What’s on the other side of this wall?’

‘The painted door,’ she said. When Bodhi gave her a blank look, she added: ‘It’s got no handles, and it was painted over by whoever last renovated.’

‘I’d really like to see all those floor plans we found yesterday,’ Cassian mused.

‘It’s no use,’ Jyn said. ‘I found about two dozen, and they’re all different. Still not sure which one is accurate.’

Bodhi raised his eyebrows.

‘Why did Galen move here?’ Cassian asked.

‘Krennic wanted him to redesign it,’ Jyn shook a half-full watering can and poured it over the herbs. ‘They were going to flip it together.’

‘He’d have drawn up a lot of plans, then,’ Cassian said.

‘Yep,’ Jyn agreed. ‘And you’d think one of us would have noticed a sunroom.’

Cassian held up a finger, and dashed back into the house. He returned with every spare sensor Kay could carry.

‘You know how they say a place has good bones?’ Jyn was saying to Bodhi. ‘This house has the worst fucking bones I’ve ever seen.’

‘So what, they planned to only keep the original exterior?’ Bodhi guessed.

Cassian tried the thermocam, then the motion sensor.

‘The façade isn’t original,’ Jyn said. ‘It’s Edwardian, but the house is older. Some of the woodwork is genuine Tudor.’

Cassian scowled, tapping the barometer until it worked.

‘Ghost-free?’ Bodhi asked Cassian.

Cassian wrinkled his nose. ‘I’ve started thinking about it as _undetectable,_ rather than _free.’_

‘It’s weaker outside the walls,’ Kay said, but he watched the same spot Bodhi had touched.

‘Does this count as outside?’ Bodhi asked.

Kay wiggled his helmet in a way that was not reassuring. Jyn sighed with palpable exhaustion.

‘I’m getting a sandwich,’ she said, and disappeared inside.

‘Take a seat,’ Cassian suggested. Bodhi settled tentatively in the wicker chair, and Cassian lay out the devices on the table. He handed Bodhi a modified Fitbit, and Bodhi slipped it on.

‘Full disclosure,’ Cassian said, ‘Nobody has much idea how paranormal activity affects biometric data.’

‘I sort of figured, with it being paranormal,’ Bodhi shrugged. ‘Does any of it hurt?’

‘First one does,’ Cassian held up a pen. ‘We check your blood sugar, and again after lunch.’

‘For ghost diabetes,’ Bodhi nodded solemnly.

Kay made a creaking noise that was almost like a laugh.

‘Prick your finger,’ Cassian handed him the lancet. Bodhi made the incision without flinching, and Cassian held out the test strip for him. Bodhi pressed into it, their fingers brushing together in the process. Cassian was glad to have the machine to concentrate on, while Bodhi looked at the Fitbit.

Cassian rummaged around the equipment, frowning. Kay handed him the notebook.

‘Thank you,’ Cassian muttered.

Kay read out the blood sugar results, along with Bodhi’s heart rate. Cassian jotted them down.

‘Could I check your vision?’ Cassian asked.

Bodhi nodded, and Cassian pulled up the other chair. He took a torch and shone it in Bodhi’s eyes. His irises were such a deep brown, it was difficult to discern just how wide his pupils were blown. Cassian could have drowned in them.

‘Are they usually wide?’ Cassian asked. They were sitting so close their knees bumped together.

‘I don’t think so,’ Bodhi’s gaze followed the pencil as Cassian moved it in cursory patterns. ‘Not like, three-doses-of-ketamine large.’

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if something’s elevated,’ Cassian said. ‘You had a demon so big it couldn’t fit on this plane of reality inside you.’

Cassian made a note of it: if he wrote it down, it was science. When he looked up, Bodhi was idly tracing the veins of his wrist with his fingertips.

‘How would you know?’ Bodhi murmured. ‘If I was possessed again?’

‘I’d see it,’ Kay told him.

‘Chirrut didn’t,’ Bodhi said. ‘He thought he felt something passing through, but not… that.’

‘Remember the cat analogy?’ Kay reminded him. ‘You’re humans, peeking through a keyhole and missing a beast taller than a cathedral.’

‘He’s very useful,’ Cassian said.

‘Wish you’d brought him in earlier,’ Bodhi confessed.

‘Well, I didn’t want to freak you out,’ Cassian shrugged. ‘You’re taking this in your stride for someone who didn’t know about the supernatural two days ago.’

Bodhi laughed weakly. ‘I _felt_ Galen using my hands. I didn’t really get a chance to doubt it.’

‘Can I ask…’ Cassian bit his lip. ‘What was it like?’

Bodhi pulled a face, and Cassian was about to retract it when Bodhi opened his mouth.

‘It’s…’ he hissed through his teeth. ‘Galen didn’t hurt, or he didn’t mean to. Have you ever woken up and you can’t move?’

Cassian couldn’t stop himself glancing at Kay.

‘Yes,’ Kay answered for him.

‘Like that, but…’ Bodhi chewed the inside of his cheek as he searched for words. ‘He was so _worried._ Even before I knew he was there. I checked if the stove was on when I came in.’

Bodhi laughed at the absurdity of it. Cassian didn’t.

‘And then…’ Bodhi shook his head. ‘Like he was keeping an eye out from the next room. Trusting, but just—just making sure.’

‘That Jyn got the message?’ Cassian asked.

‘That someone did,’ Bodhi had a sad smile. ‘You did.’

Cassian looked at his notebook. He’d drawn two circles.

‘What about…?’ he pursed his lips. ‘After that? With the Interrogator?’

Bodhi shuddered.

‘You don’t have to talk about it,’ Cassian amended. ‘We can just—‘

‘It was searching for something,’ Bodhi said. ‘But I mean, desperate, lost, like… a passport before a flight, like your phone when you’ve just got off the train.’

‘That’s what they do,’ Kay told him. ‘It interrogated you.’

‘Why?’ Cassian asked. ‘What was it looking for?’

Bodhi shook his head. He swallowed, hands folding over each other compulsively. Cassian caught one gently, turning Bodhi’s wrist over. His heart rate was up.

‘It’s okay,’ Cassian said. ‘It’s gone. We don’t have to go back over it.’

‘It couldn’t find an answer,’ Bodhi spoke through gritted teeth. ‘So it kept… pulling things apart.’

The way Bodhi said _things,_ he meant _himself._

‘It’s gone,’ Kay said. ‘Whatever foothold it found in the first place, Baze and Chirrut got rid of it.’

‘They said I was a vessel,’ Bodhi said. ‘If I could build up guards for myself, it might not…’

 _‘Keyhole,’_ Kay repeated. ‘Bodhi, you could have trained your whole life in warding, and that thing would have torn through you like a hurricane.’

‘Oh,’ Bodhi’s shoulders hunched like he was trying to physically make room for that information. ‘I… okay.’

Cassian looked between them. If Kay said it was a hurricane, Bodhi was more of a mess than he was letting on.

‘Still,’ Kay added. ‘It’s not the only hungry thing in the house. Best learn to guard against what you can.’

Bodhi rubbed the heels of his palms against his thighs, nodding.

‘What’s the next thing to test?’ he asked Cassian.

‘Okay,’ Cassian said. ‘So there’s an EEG, but it’s… messy.’

He picked up the plastic halo, bending the nodes in an attempt to make them look less threatening.

‘Totally optional,’ he insisted.

‘Fuck it,’ Bodhi shrugged, and pulled his hair out of the ponytail. ‘I’d really like to know if demons broke my brain.’

Cassian realised, five seconds later, that he should do something other than stare at Bodhi’s hair. He grabbed the bottle from the table and started dampening the sensors.

‘Is that lube?’ Bodhi cocked his head.

Cassian snorted. ‘It’s saline.’

‘Okay,’ Bodhi seemed unperturbed.

‘You might wanna wash your hair after,’ Cassian said. ‘So, the halo kind of sits above your ears…’

He held it out, but Bodhi sat forward expectantly. Cassian took a breath in, and settled the halo gently on Bodhi’s head. Bodhi was quiet and pliable as Cassian checked the sensors were in place, the first pair behind his ears and the rest reaching across his forehead. When he thought to look at Bodhi’s face, Cassian realised he was curious.

‘Looks ridiculous?’ Bodhi guessed.

‘Cyberpunk,’ Cassian said, but he couldn’t hide a smile.

‘Sure,’ Bodhi raised an eyebrow, glancing at Kay like he’d get a more honest answer. Kay made no comment, because Kay did not humour cyberpunk as a notion.

‘It syncs with my phone,’ Cassian opened the app, and offered the screen to Bodhi. ‘I’ll note the readouts and then wipe your data.’

Bodhi looked at the spiking lines and numbers, then handed the phone back to Cassian.

‘We don’t have any control tests,’ Cassian explained as he wrote out Bodhi’s results. ‘But it’s something. We could test you in different rooms, one of Baze’s circles…’

‘Or when the next thing possesses me,’ Bodhi grumbled.

‘Hey,’ Cassian held his arm and squeezed it. ‘Not gonna happen on our watch.’

‘Unless…’ Bodhi looked up. ‘Kay?’

‘I can’t get inside you,’ Kay said. A moment later, he added: ‘Not metaphysically.’

Cassian felt his head rotate so far his neck cracked.

‘Right,’ Bodhi nodded so fast the headset jiggled loose.

Cassian studiously ignored the way the blood rushed from his ears to his groin. He wrote the rest of the EEG data in the notebook and cleared the app.

‘We can…’ he gestured. Bodhi lifted the halo, and Cassian reached forward to untangle the curls of hair caught around the sensors.

‘Oop,’ Bodhi tilted his head as Cassian found another snarl. ‘Just…’

‘I’ll…’ Cassian winced apologetically, and Bodhi leaned closer. Cassian had to duck so his nose didn’t bump into Bodhi’s temple.

‘Here…’ Bodhi reached in to help, and the halo wobbled in his grip.

 _‘Here,’_ Kay sighed, looming over both of them and lifting the halo free. Bodhi took a lock of his hair and yanked, while Cassian tried to wriggle his saline-damp fingers free.

’So, there’s, is there anything?’ Bodhi’s tongue flicked as he got his words in order. ‘Else?’

’Sandwich?’ Cassian suggested.

Bodhi looked at him blankly.

‘Food,’ Cassian backtracked. ‘Lunch. If you’re hungry.’

Cassian needed to put bread in his mouth before anything else came out of it. So of course, the kitchen was on fire.

Kay pushed past the pair of them, taking the tea towel off the stove and plunging its scorched remains into the sink. He switched off the hotplate and peered into the range hood.

‘What _now?’_

Jyn had followed Cassian and Bodhi’s swearing.

‘Fire,’ Bodhi pointed. ‘There was a towel on the stove.’

‘Who lit the stove?’ Jyn asked.

‘You were making lunch,’ Cassian said. ‘Did anyone—?’

‘I made sandwiches,’ Jyn shook her head. ’Nobody had the stove on. Were you two fucking around with your ghostbuster shit?’

‘We’ve been in the sunroom,’ Cassian held his hands up. ‘Were Baze and Chirrut…?’

‘In the lounge,’ Chirrut answered. ‘Thought I smelt something.’

‘There’s a sunroom?’ Baze asked.

‘There is now,’ Kay said.

Cassian shook his head, getting sandwiches ready for himself and Bodhi. There was a collective agreement that the kitchen should remain supervised lest the pyromaniac ghost reappear, so Bodhi made six cups of tea.

‘Wait,’ he realised as he poured the last one. ‘Kay, do you…?’

‘I appreciate the gesture,’ Kay took the mug and held it in both hands. ‘It’s warm.’

Cassian pretended to be enthralled by the difference between seeded and dijon mustard while he processed that. Bodhi’s hair, still slick in places, was only half in a bun. Waves of it tumbled around his shoulders and made Cassian’s fingers twitch.

‘Any progress on the will?’ Cassian asked Jyn as he set their plates at the table.

She shook her head. ‘How about the investigation?’

‘There’s power here,’ Chirrut said. ‘More than we’ve ever found in one place. It echoes.’

‘Echoes? What does that mean?’

Chirrut rapped his knuckles on the top of the table. A second later, he rapped the underside. ’There’s always flow between this world and the one Yonder. But here, it refracts. Something’s splintering it, forcing it to amplify.’

‘This world and—the what?’ Jyn asked.

Kay moved silently to fill the sixth space at the table, before Cassian could beckon him over. With Bodhi on the too-high island stool, they made a matching pair.

‘The Yonder is a netherworld,’ Cassian said. ‘Beyond the veil; hell; the upside-down.’

He could feel Kay’s mounting irritation as each term got less accurate.

‘The Guardians watch the boundaries,’ Chirrut said. ‘We keep balance between the worlds.’

‘How many are you?’ Cassian asked. ‘I’ve never met any.’

‘There were more of us,’ Baze said. ‘Before.’

Kay stood a little straighter.

‘Before what?’ Jyn shifted forward.

‘The Empire,’ Chirrut said. ‘A faction in the Yonder.’

‘Empire,’ Jyn echoed him. She snapped her fingers and pointed at Cassian: ‘That’s why you didn’t like Krennic’s company.’

‘Plenty of things are called Empire,’ Cassian shrugged one shoulder. ‘But it’d be a coincidence.’

‘What do they want?’ Bodhi asked.

‘What any empire wants,’ Kay sighed. ‘To conquer.’

‘So you can all see—‘ Jyn hesitated— ‘sense it?’

 _‘They_ can,’ Cassian gestured at the others. ‘You and I can’t.’

‘I thought you were…?’ Jyn squinted as she tried to remember.

‘Marked,’ Bodhi supplied. ‘Chirrut said you were marked.’

‘It’s not as special as it sounds,’ Cassian said. ‘It’s like being on a watchlist.’

‘Why are you on a watchlist?’ Jyn narrowed her eyes.

Cassian gritted his teeth. He should have guessed the conversation would lead here.

‘My mother was a vessel,’ he said. ‘The Empire thought I might inherit the ability.’

’That was the encounter you had?’ Chirrut guessed.

‘An Imperial demon possessed her,’ Kay answered for Cassian. ‘One of their early attempts.’

Baze shook his head sympathetically.

‘She resisted it,’ Cassian looked at his tea as he spoke, ‘She fought so hard she burned the house down.’

Jyn swore quietly.

‘Kay’s the one watching you?’ Bodhi realised.

‘For the Empire?’ Baze scowled.

‘Originally,’ Kay said.

‘Watching _me_ is the equivalent of watching security cameras of an abandoned carpark,’ Cassian said. ‘They haven’t checked on him in a decade.’

‘My loyalty is to Cassian,’ Kay’s tone brokered no argument.

‘So you couldn’t see him?’ Bodhi frowned.

‘Barely,’ Cassian said. ‘A tall shadow of a man at the end of my bed.’

Baze and Bodhi exchanged a cryptic look.

‘Is that why the big thing tried to get through?’ Jyn asked. ‘For the Empire?’

‘It _wasn’t_ Imperial,’ Kay insisted. ‘Something else brought it through.’

‘What about the other things in the house?’ Bodhi asked. ‘The noises? Is that them?’

‘Some,’ Kay said. ‘There are restless dead. Others are wild, like the Interrogator.’

‘It’s the refraction,’ Chirrut explained. ‘The house draws all of it to the surface.’

 _‘Why?’_ Jyn asked. ‘What’s so special about this house?’

Baze hissed in frustration. ‘Could be something happened here, that created the first rupture.’

‘You think it could have been Krennic?’ Jyn asked.

‘It’s deeper than that,’ Kay said. ‘Older.’

‘Saw might know,’ Jyn said. ‘The council’s got archives.’

She phoned him, and booked a meeting for the next afternoon. Chirrut and Baze inspected the sunroom, while Bodhi and Kay trailed after Cassian as he checked his sensors. They were in the office when heavy footfalls sprinted up the staircase. Kay was the first to reach the door: he shook his head. Nothing.

Bodhi rubbed his forearms irritably. ’Kay, does it feel—?’

All of them flinched at the shriek. The wallpaper ripped away from the wall, clawed by invisible hands. Cassian grabbed Bodhi and backed them both up against the desk. Books tumbled off the shelves.

Silence fell. Kay ventured back into the office.

‘Are you both—?’

The office chair lifted off the ground and shattered into the wall beside Kay. He stepped swiftly around it.

‘Out,’ he ordered them, and they didn’t need to be told twice. He slammed the office door shut behind them.

‘The window,’ Bodhi panted, as they recovered on the landing. ‘Did you see it?’

‘See what?’ Cassian was still shaking. Bodhi rested a hand on his elbow.

‘It had glass again.’

_‘Really?’_

‘You’re _not_ going back in there to check,’ Kay said.

‘What was that?’ Cassian asked.

‘Did you see?’ Kay turned to Bodhi.

‘I can’t quite…’ he shook his head. ’It’s like the corner of my eye.’

‘You learn fast,’ Kay reassured him. ‘But I couldn’t see it either. It was obscured.’

‘Why?’ Cassian asked.

Kay shrugged, which was an impressive feat of Cassian’s engineering.

‘No place is like this place,’ was his only answer.

*

Night fell without any more incidents. Before Cassian showered, he checked Bodhi’s Fitbit and made more notes. Baze went to refresh the wards. As Cassian was rinsing shampoo out of his hair and hoping for another thirty seconds of hot water, he wondered if Bodhi had been on his own for longer than five minutes of the day. He tried to remember if he had himself.

Something banged hard on the tiles. There was nothing on the other side but a brick wall. Cassian muttered curses in two languages and banged right back.

Maybe Bodhi had the right idea.

Kay stood dutifully over the bed while Cassian got himself settled. Both of them watched Bodhi wander out to brush his teeth.

The minute Bodhi was out of earshot, Cassian asked: ‘What’s going on with you two?’

‘What?’ Kay’s tone was infuriatingly naïve.

‘You like him.’

 _‘You_ like him.’

‘That’s different!’ Cassian hissed.

‘I don’t see why you don’t tell him,’ Kay said archly.

‘Bodhi has enough on his mind,’ Cassian folded his arms.

‘He’s got a big mind,’ Kay pointed out.

‘He’s been through a lot,’ Cassian said.

‘You don’t think I know what a human can go through?’ Kay’s head tilted.

Cassian gritted his teeth.

‘He’s not made of glass,’ Kay spoke softer this time. ’He fought that thing.’

The moment Bodhi returned, Kay and Cassian shifted into a register comprising exclusively of glares and squinting. It was the oldest language they shared. Cassian was arguing so vehemently that he didn’t notice immediately how amused Bodhi was by it.

‘So how long have you two been…’ Bodhi paused. ‘Together?’

Kay’s eyes glinted at Bodhi’s choice of wording.

‘He’s been watching me for twenty years,’ Cassian said. ‘I only got him in the hull three years ago.’

‘Four,’ Kay corrected him.

‘When I was a kid, I was terrified,’ Cassian confessed. ‘I thought he’d do the same to me as happened to Mamá.’

‘I had to still him every night,’ Kay recalled. ‘You were ever so wriggly.’

Cassian rolled his eyes. ‘I realised, after long enough, he never _did_ anything.’

‘Then he started leaving messages,’ Kay recalled.

‘Really?’ Bodhi smiled. ‘How?’

‘I pinned paper to my headboard,’ Cassian shook his head fondly at the memory.

‘What did you write?’

‘I asked him what he wanted.’

Bodhi looked expectantly at Kay.

‘Imperial policy did not advise communicating with the marked,’ Kay said. ‘Besides, I thought the answer was obvious.’

Cassian smirked: the latter was a lot more like Kay.

‘I kept trying,’ Cassian said. ‘I had to.’

‘You never thought it was night terrors?’ Bodhi asked.

Cassian clenched his jaw. ‘I always knew it was real.’

Bodhi looked at him solemnly.

‘I couldn’t get anyone to believe it,’ Cassian murmured.

‘You were a child,’ Kay reminded him.

‘Everyone blamed the fire on a broken pilot light,’ Cassian rubbed his mouth with his knuckles. ‘I knew it wasn’t, but until I had Kay, I couldn’t be _sure.’_

‘You always had me,’ Kay said.

‘I had _proof_ of you,’ Cassian amended. ‘Walking, talking proof.’

‘Did you tell anyone?’ Bodhi asked.

‘People just believe he’s a really mean robot,’ Cassian sighed. ‘Then they tell me I should work for Boston Dynamics.’

‘That... does seem more plausible,’ Bodhi admitted. ‘What about you, Kay?’

 _‘I_ don’t work for anybody,’ Kay replied.

‘No,’ Bodhi laughed, kicking in Kay’s direction. ‘You started caring about Cassian at some point.’

‘Well, look at him,’ Kay gestured. ‘He’s useless.’

‘Okay,’ Cassian slapped his thighs. ‘Lights out now. Going to sleep.’

When he crawled back under the covers, Bodhi wriggled around so that Cassian was the little spoon. Cassian didn’t breathe, waiting for the spell to break, as Bodhi snuffled into his shoulder and his arm snaked around Cassian’s waist. Cassian glanced at Kay, who stood quietly in the gloom, and Kay gave a millimetre of a nod.

When the floor plummeted beneath them and Cassian jolted awake, Bodhi rubbed between his shoulder blades and murmured until Cassian settled again.


	7. Things just got super weird. It’s my time to shine.

None of them realised they hadn’t actually discussed who was going to meet Saw Gerrera until Cassian picked up his keys, and four humans and a robot stood up.

‘Kay,’ Cassian said. ‘You can’t come to the archives.’

‘I can sit in the back,’ Kay suggested.

‘We need to report to Saw,’ Chirrut said.

‘I’m not staying in the house on my own,’ Bodhi added.

Jyn pulled a face that said _it’s your car._

Cassian twirled his keys between his fingers and chewed the inside of his lip. He could hardly blame them for being sick of the relentless scratching in the walls.

‘If _anyone_ says McDonalds…’

‘Of course not,’ Baze shoved the front door open for him. ‘We’re getting dumplings.’

Cassian jogged ahead of them to clear off junk off the back seat and fold it upright. Kay, in an unprecedented show of courtesy, forfeited shotgun to Jyn and settled himself on the pile of equipment at the rear of the van. His helmet filled Cassian’s rearview mirror, and he declared: ‘I’ll tell you if anything’s coming.’

Cassian sighed, sent a silent apology to the van’s suspension, and started the ignition.

The whole ride there, Kay and Baze debated the meaning of the circle sigil. They agreed Krennic’s projects were significant locations, and the convergence on Rogue Street was important. Baze was of the opinion that Krennic had chosen the Rogue Street property because it happened to fit within the circle of locations available to develop; Kay argued Krennic must have chosen the sites based on Rogue Street’s centrality.

‘What neither of you are asking,’ Chirrut interjected. ‘Is what Krennic’s other projects have been _doing_ to the house.’

‘Making the hauntings worse?’ Bodhi suggested.

‘Certainly,’ Chirrut said. ‘But for what purpose?’

‘He profits as a middleman,’ Jyn pointed out. ‘Every time someone moves in and sells it again, Empire gets a cut.’

‘He develops eight tracts of shitty new-build mansions to help him flip one house?’ Bodhi frowned.

‘It’s more than that,’ Baze huffed.

‘Until you find out what the foci do, you cannot be sure of the intention behind them,’ Kay pointed out.

‘Well, if Saw can tell us something about the house,’ Jyn pointed out, ‘It could lead to why Krennic picked it.’

Cassian tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and waited for them to notice he’d parked. Kay met his eyes in the mirror and they let the humans finish arguing.

‘Right, so who’s coming?’ Jyn asked.

‘Me,’ Kay droned.

 _‘No,’_ Cassian said immediately.

‘I’ll stay with you,’ Bodhi volunteered.

‘Thank you, Bodhi,’ Kay shuffled forward, while Baze and Chirrut climbed out of the van.

Jyn gave Cassian an expectant look.

 _‘Me?’_ he asked.

‘Yeah, _Nottinghamshire Hauntings Dot Com,_ you,’ she rolled her eyes.

Cassian got out of the van before Kay could finish telling Jyn he didn’t pay for his own domain. This time, Jyn didn’t lead them through the private doors, but down an elevator. Saw was waiting at the entrance to the archives.

‘Jyn,’ he greeted her first. ‘Have you begun making the arrangements?’

‘Not yet,’ she admitted. ‘Not until I find the will.’

‘You brought the electrician?’ Saw’s bemusement was palpable when he noticed Cassian.

‘Yeah, the wiring in the house is just…’ Jyn blew roughly through her lips. ‘Fucked.’

‘And you think the archivist can help,’ Saw said flatly.

 _‘Historically_ fucked,’ Jyn nodded. Cassian did too.

Saw gave them a hard stare, and seemed to decide it wasn’t his problem.

‘Mister Îmwe and Mister Malbus,’ he greeted them. ‘I hope you have something for me.’

Baze made an ambivalent noise, but Chirrut elbowed him.

‘If it was murder, it will be difficult to prove,’ Chirrut said. ‘Your suspect has motive, but he also has the means to make it look like an accident.’

Saw sighed gravely.

‘Galen’s death was the latest in a long line of unusual accidents,’ Saw said. ‘The archivist has gathered a significant history.’

He led them to a consultation room, and introduced them to Mon Mothma. Cassian’s nose tickled with dust.

‘The Rogue Street house?’ she asked. ‘You certainly chose an interesting one.’

‘Did we?’ Jyn radiated innocence. Cassian, Baze, and Chirrut did not.

‘I’ll begin with the previous owners,’ she pulled up an obituary on the projector. ‘Breha and Bail Organa.’

‘They died in the home,’ Baze read on Chirrut’s behalf. ‘Both in their nineties.’

Jyn nodded. ‘My father would’ve known when he bought it.’

‘It appears to have had renters for many years before the Organas,’ Mon said. ‘Very few stayed on the lease for long. There’s a tabloid feature about a woman who reported hearing mysterious voices in 1995. It claims the house had a bloody history, including an axe murder, but I’ve not found further sources on that.’

The next article was a family who lost a baby in the 1980s. Jyn shuddered, and Baze shifted closer to Chirrut. Before that, a young man had pushed his brother out the window. A drunk driver crashed into the front room in 1971.

By the time they were back to the First World War, Cassian was losing count of the deaths. Influenza, a heart attack, falling down the stairs. A woman had starved in the Great Depression and lay undiscovered for a week. The strangest thing, Cassian started to realise, was that he’d never heard of the place until now. He was supposed to be _Nottinghamshire Hauntings Dot Com._

‘Then there was the fire,’ Mon said. ‘Allegedly, the young lady of the house had a hysterical breakdown.’

She loaded a microfiche into the reader. The headline was from 1888. It took Cassian a moment to recognise the shape of the street corner and the yew tree in the photograph.

‘It was a Norman house,’ Jyn murmured as she read. ‘I knew it was old, but…’

‘There are more stories predating the rebuild,’ Mon told them. ‘There was a lovers’ quarrel that killed a princess during the War of the Roses, although the precise location is contested.’

She looked at Saw and said: ‘And of course, the reason it’s called Rogue Street.’

‘Sorry,’ Jyn leaned forward. ‘Why is that?’

‘It’s nothing but a folk tale,’ Saw shook his head.

‘I would very much like to hear it,’ Chirrut assured him.

‘King John died in Nottinghamshire, in 1216,’ Saw sighed. ‘He’d contracted dysentery during the First Barons’ War.’

‘But some people thought it was murder,’ Cassian recalled. He’d slunk through enough ghost tours of Newark Castle to remember. ‘Poison, right?’

‘Indeed,’ Saw raised an eyebrow skeptically. ‘The accused was a foreign-born knight called Tarre Vizsla.’

He was interrupted by a harsh, wheezing cough. Jyn moved to his side, but he waved her off, leaning harder on his cane.

‘A mob chased Vizsla to the empty house on the corner,’ Mon Mothma continued on his behalf. ‘Enraged by the death of their king, they murdered him. There’s a ballad that goes into all sorts of detail on the butchery.’

‘Entrails torn out, every bone broken, that sort of thing,’ Saw added. ‘His remains were destroyed so utterly that there was no body to bury, and the street is supposedly named for the rogue.’

Cassian and Jyn shared a look.

‘Anything dating further back?’ Baze asked.

Mon shook her head. ‘You could try history books, but you’d be lucky to find something for such a specific spot.’

‘Well,’ Chirrut smiled. ‘Thank you kindly for your time.’

‘You’re very welcome,’ Mon said. ‘It’s not every day we find something quite so macabre.’

Saw followed them out, and Jyn stopped at the elevator.

‘If I don’t find the will…’ she bit her lip.

‘We’ll find another way for Krennic to pay,’ Saw promised her. He gestured to Chirrut and Baze. ‘If these two are as good as they promise, there may be hope yet.’

‘We are,’ Chirrut told him.

Cassian was back in the van before it occurred to him to ask: ’So, wait. Does Saw actually know about ghosts?’

‘He suspects,’ Chirrut said.

‘Dumplings,’ Baze reminded him.

*

They ate in the kitchen: Bodhi suggested the lounge, but after hearing about the car that had once ploughed through it, none of them were keen. Cassian tried not to make a fool of himself as he delicately picked up xiao long bao and swooped at the spoon before they could burst. Baze and Chirrut were feeding each other custard buns. Bodhi surreptitiously put an entire baozi in his mouth and Cassian’s shoulders shook with laughter. He bore an uncanny resemblance to an overly ambitious hamster.

‘So what do you think?’ Jyn asked. ‘This Vizsla knight is the big one?’

She stuck her chopsticks in her rice. Baze silently leaned over and lay them flat for her.

‘A death that violent could have caused the first rupture,’ Chirrut agreed. ‘A vengeful spirit would attract others.’

‘Misery loves company,’ Baze added.

‘What if it’s a myth?’ Cassian asked.

‘That may not be important,’ Kay said. ‘If humans _believe_ it to be significant, there’s still power.’

Something in the hallway creaked. Kay ignored it, so they all did.

‘That power could have drawn Vizsla to the site,’ Baze pointed out.

‘Here’s the problem,’ Cassian pulled his chair closer. ‘There could always be _something_ earlier, right? Because the origin could be in the Yonder.’

‘Vizsla would have been a significant breach,’ Kay conceded. ‘If not the first.’

‘We could ask him,’ Chirrut said.

Baze huffed skeptically. ‘You want to do a summoning?’

‘Cassian, have you done one before?’ Chirrut asked.

‘I’ve seen attempts,’ Cassian said. ‘But I’m an amateur.’

‘An amateur who caught a Watcher in a box,’ Chirrut said. ‘Not bad.’

‘I wouldn’t say _caught—‘_

‘More _invited,’_ Kay finished for him.

‘Could you do it again?’ Jyn asked.

‘Catch him?’ Cassian thought of the broken spirit trap in the office. ‘No. Talk to him, maybe.’

‘The boundaries are already thin,’ Chirrut reasoned. ‘And we make five anchor points in this world.’

‘Summoning’s not the problem,’ Kay said. ‘Getting rid of him will be.’

‘Aren’t you two exorcists?’ Jyn asked Chirrut.

‘Guardians,’ Chirrut said. ‘Similar principles, less specialised.’

‘But you know how to do it,’ Bodhi said. ‘You got the Interrogator out.’

‘The Interrogator didn’t _want_ to be here,’ Baze growled. ‘Vizsla might.’

‘At the risk of asking _what’s the worst thing that could happen,’_ Cassian said, ’The house is already haunted.’

‘In that case,’ Bodhi said. ‘Could we do it in the morning?’

‘That’s a better idea,’ Chirrut said. ‘We’ll be fresh.’

‘Less spooky,’ Jyn agreed.

‘The dead have waited this long,’ Baze sighed. ‘They can wait a night longer.’

Silence fell.

‘Kay?’ Cassian prompted.

‘I would concern yourselves more with _where_ you do it,’ Kay said blithely.

‘And do you have any suggestions?’ Jyn prompted him.

‘Not the office,’ Kay said. ‘The interference is too strong.’

‘Here?’ Bodhi suggested.

Slowly, simultaneously, their heads turned toward the hole in the ceiling. Jyn slapped the table, making all of them jump.

‘The floor plans! I found some that might be correct.’

She jogged out of the room, and Cassian held his breath until he heard her coming back down the hall. Her footsteps stopped just short of the kitchen.

‘Guys.’

Kay was the first one to the doorway, and all he said was: ‘Hmm.’

Cassian didn’t see what was wrong at first. Then Jyn pointed. Halfway up the painted-over door was a handle. He’d almost missed it, because the brass was slathered in the same ivory paint as the rest of it.

‘That wasn’t there before,’ Jyn said.

‘It’s a pull handle,’ Baze observed.

Bodhi, before anyone could stop him, reached up and pulled it.

Nothing happened.

Jyn sighed, and tried pushing. The wood grunted, but it didn’t move.

‘You know what?’ she brandished a sheet of paper. ‘I’m checking this. Right now.’

Jyn spread the floor plans on the kitchen island, and they gathered around. Cassian turned his head, trying to see which way up they were supposed to be.

‘These are all the plans that have a sunroom,’ Jyn said. ‘It has to be one of these.’

‘It’s only sketched in,’ Cassian said. ‘How old are these?’

‘No dates,’ Jyn said. ‘Or that’s how I’d’ve sorted it.’

‘The upstairs bathroom’s in the wrong place,’ Bodhi tapped the sheet on the left.

Cassian cocked his head. It looked right to him.

‘This sounds fascinating,’ Chirrut drawled. Baze snorted.

‘This one looks right, except it’s mirrored,’ Jyn said. They peered at it.

‘These are your father’s plans?’ Baze asked. Jyn nodded. ‘Did he renovate?’

‘He never said he was,’ Jyn said. ‘It looks like he couldn’t settle on a design.’

‘What’s that behind the painted door?’ Bodhi asked.

Jyn exhaled roughly. ‘Stairs.’

‘Where do they lead?’ Cassian checked the upper floor. ‘Into your room?’

‘There’s no stairwell in my room,’ Jyn said.

‘Could it have been closed off?’ Chirrut asked.

‘A lot of old places had servants’ passages,’ Jyn said. ‘This house is small, to have one...’

‘But it’s old,’ Cassian said. Jyn clicked her tongue in agreement.

‘They don’t lead up,’ Bodhi murmured.

‘What?’ Jyn’s eyes darted across the paper.

Bodhi’s fingers walked from one floor plan to the next.

‘The stairs don’t lead to your bedroom,’ Bodhi repeated. ‘They go down.’

Cassian gripped the edge of the island a little tighter.

‘How do you know?’ Jyn asked slowly.

‘Just a guess,’ Bodhi shrugged.

‘There’s no basement in the plans,’ Jyn pointed out.

‘There is something below us,’ Kay said.

‘Do you have to be so fucking spooky?’ Cassian elbowed Kay’s chassis. Then he rubbed his sore elbow.

Jyn launched herself from the island and rummaged through a drawer. Brandishing the hammer, she stalked out to the hallway. Cassian followed the _thunk_ and the crunching. Jyn swore and made another attempt at jamming the hammer’s prongs between the doorframe and the door.

‘The fucking paint,’ she muttered. ‘It won’t even crack.’

Bodhi had to reel backward when she swung the hammer high. It struck the wood with a dull _thump._

‘It sounds solid,’ Chirrut said.

Jyn snarled and bashed the door again. The hammer bent.

‘Fine!’ she thumped her forehead against the wall. Much quieter, she repeated: _‘Fine.’_

She sniffed. Cassian put a hand on her shoulder and she flinched, but then she dropped the hammer and turned. He hugged her, and Bodhi rubbed her back gently.

Jyn shivered, and leaned on Bodhi, and then Baze and Chirrut were there too. Cassian took a deep breath and rested his cheek on Jyn’s head. Bodhi bumped their foreheads together over the top of her.

‘I’m meant to be planning the funeral,’ Jyn mumbled. ‘Not hunting characters from the fucking Robin Hood Extended Universe.’

‘We can help with that too,’ Bodhi offered. ‘If you want.’

Jyn gave him a wet smile. ‘Should probably get the ghosts out before I offer to host the wake, right?’

‘Probably,’ Baze gave her a warm smile.

‘Okay,’ Jyn emerged from Cassian’s arms, wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand. ‘This is a _tomorrow_ problem.’

‘Wise choice,’ Kay said, lurking a polite distance from the group hug.

Baze warded Jyn’s room as well as Bodhi’s, and Cassian sprinted from a freezing cold shower into the bed with toasty-warm Bodhi. He scrambled out long enough to find a hoodie and warm socks, after which Bodhi made him much more welcome.

‘See?’ Kay said. ‘Useless.’

‘Ssh,’ Cassian grinned into the pillow. ‘Unless you’re going to bring those overheating processors under the covers.’

Bodhi’s neck arched, and Kay creaked quietly, but he remained in his sentry position.

This time it was Bodhi who gasped awake minutes later. Cassian interlaced their fingers and held tightly, waiting for his heart to stop racing from the plunge. He stared at the point in the corner where a tendril of ivy was beginning to creep across the wall.

By the morning, it reached from floor to ceiling.

‘Not sure I like that,’ Bodhi grumbled, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

‘No,’ Cassian agreed. ‘All clear, Kay?’

‘As clear as it ever is,’ Kay sighed.

‘Coffee?’ Cassian yawned.

‘Mm-yes,’ Bodhi echoed the yawn.

‘I’ll have a venti maple pecan praline latté extra hot with three espresso shots,’ Kay said. ‘Hold the whip.’

‘You know where my wallet is,’ Cassian rolled his eyes. ‘See what they make of you at Costa.’

He descended the stairs and turned toward the kitchen, Bodhi quick on his heels. He stopped so suddenly that Bodhi collided into him. A blast of freezing air whipped through his hair.

The painted door was open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The theory about King John being poisoned is true, absolutely everything else is fabricated.


	8. They might have passed a very pleasant evening had shit not gotten real.

Kay walked right past them and into the kitchen.

‘Kay!’ Cassian called after him. ‘What are you doing?’

‘I thought you wanted coffee,’ Kay called back.

‘The door,’ Bodhi said. ‘What about the door?’

‘I doubt you’ll find coffee down there,’ Kay said, followed by the sound of the Tassimo.

‘Do we just… walk past?’ Bodhi whispered.

Cassian, who had seen the _Evil Dead_ trilogy more times than he cared to admit—except to Kay, who’d been there for all of them—tried to decide how severe his caffeine addiction was.

Chirrut passed them in the hallway, pausing as he felt the chill of the open door.

‘It seems we’ve found our summoning spot,’ he declared, and followed Kay into the kitchen. Jyn and Baze went after him.

Bodhi and Cassian shuffled forward, Cassian peering into the darkness and making out the faint shape of descending stairs. Kay had coffee waiting in the kitchen. Cassian could count on one hand the times Kay had made him coffee. He glanced up at Kay’s reflectors as he sipped, and the angle of Kay’s shoulders said: _you’re going to need it._

The whole time Cassian was cooking, Kay stood between him and the door. Cassian was ready for the ear-splitting roar of the blender as he plated up eggs and hash browns.

‘So, do we need candles?’ Jyn asked. ‘Book full of Latin?’

‘Would those make you feel better?’ Chirrut asked.

‘Bring your hammer,’ Kay said to her.

‘Because it’s iron?’ Cassian asked him.

‘Because if there’s a family of squatters living down there, they’re going to be very upset when you turn up,’ Kay said.

‘Wow,’ Bodhi said. ‘That’s somehow worse.’

‘I’m sure my father’s provided for them in the will,’ Jyn drawled. But she picked up her hammer. Cassian gathered a radio, a heavy-duty torch, and as much recording equipment as he could convince Kay to carry. Bodhi, after a moment’s consideration, went through the kitchen drawers until he found a ball of twine.

‘Good idea,’ Kay said.

Bodhi nodded, and he tied the end of the twine to the handle of the back door.

‘So,’ Cassian whistled through his teeth. ‘Who’s going first?’

Baze hefted the dust-bazooka—Cassian had never asked what it actually was—and clicked on a torch attachment. ’l’ll do it.’

He stepped into the dark, and was quickly swallowed by shadows. Chirrut went after him, and Cassian next. He flicked his torch at the concrete walls, checking for a light switch. Then he aimed his beam at the stairs, so Jyn and Bodhi could see the way ahead. Kay brought up the rear.

The first landing was six steps down, and a right-angle turn deeper into the house. Cassian glanced back: Kay blocked most of the light from upstairs.

Baze called out another right turn six steps down. Cassian guessed they were looping around the linen cupboard. Twelve steps this time, and another turn.

‘Huh,’ Bodhi murmured.

‘Care to share with the class?’ Jyn hissed.

’Either the basement’s got high ceilings,’ Bodhi said, ‘Or we’re getting _really_ deep.’

‘Left turn,’ Baze announced.

‘I don’t fucking like this,’ Jyn muttered.

Cassian shone the torch forward. It caught nothing beyond the back of Baze’s head.

Ten more steps, and Baze stopped with a grunt.

‘Right and then a right,’ he reported.

‘A hairpin turn?’ Jyn confirmed.

‘West again,’ Chirrut noted.

‘Are we still under the house?’ Jyn asked.

‘Should be,’ Bodhi said.

Cassian held his palm to the wall.

‘Does it _curve?’_ he asked.

It did, gently, and Cassian lost count of steps.

 _‘Ah,’_ Baze said.

Cassian stiffened. There was a jingle and a click. Fluorescent light stuttered across the ceiling. Jyn let out a small breath behind him.

If Cassian were asked what he was expecting, a Norman torture chamber wouldn’t have been far off. What they got was a wide room, with chipboard walls and a moth-eaten Persian rug on the floor. Two canoes and a bicycle gathered dust in the corner. The most threatening thing Cassian could see was a cardboard box with _Donate_ scrawled on it with a marker.

‘Do you think it was the Organas’?’ Bodhi asked weakly.

‘Look,’ Baze pointed at the ceiling above the rug. ‘That’s from the banishing.’

Sure enough, the sticky black ring was a perfect match for the one in the entry hall.

‘Could’ve at least been some wine,’ Jyn grumbled, lifting a tarpaulin to reveal another pile of boxes. ‘Oh, there’s this.’

She picked up the gun, and all of them swooped out of her way.

‘What is it?’ Bodhi asked faintly. ‘A shotgun?’

‘I think it might be a blunderbuss,’ she wrinkled her nose curiously.

Whatever it was, it hadn’t been cleaned in 300 years, and Jyn put it carefully back on the shelf.

‘Probably worth a fortune,’ she mused.

‘We’ll use the north end,’ Baze said. He set his pack down and started rolling the rug up. Bodhi went to help him, while Chirrut took tools out of the pack and laid them in the middle of the floor.

‘Okay if I set things up?’ Cassian asked.

‘If you keep it out of the circle,’ Chirrut advised him. ‘Except the radio; we’ll need that.’

Cassian passed the radio to Baze, who put it in the centre of the ring he was chalking. Cassian laid out the sensors. He took the tripod from Kay’s arms and set up the camera. He nudged it back until the whole circle was in shot, and checked the tape and battery. Bodhi’s ball of twine was reaching its end: he tried to pull it to reach a leg of the tripod. Cassian shuffled the camera sideways until Bodhi could tie it safely.

There was a crash. Bodhi yelped.

‘Sorry!’ Jyn yelled from the corner. ‘Fucking sewing machine.’

She slunk back to the centre of the room.

‘I need you inside this,’ Baze beckoned them over.

Cassian paused with one foot over the line.

‘We good, Kay?’ he asked.

Kay gave him a thumbs-up. Cassian stepped into the circle.

‘What do we do?’ Jyn asked, jaw clenched in determination.

‘We speak politely,’ Chirrut said. ‘We try to help him find peace.’

‘Equal distance apart,’ Baze gestured at their stations. ‘If it gets too strong, hold hands.’

‘If it gets stronger than that, you run upstairs,’ Chirrut said. ’Stay together.’

Bodhi grabbed Cassian and Jyn’s hands pre-emptively. Neither of them let go.

‘If it can’t manifest, it might speak through the radio,’ Baze explained. He switched it on, and static hissed.

‘Cassian,’ Bodhi spoke from the corner of his mouth. ‘Have you seen this work before?’

Cassian wiggled his head. ‘Not well. Whispers and snatches. Kay always said it was a waste of time.’

‘Kay didn’t have two Guardians,’ Chirrut said, taking his place on Jyn’s other side.

Baze took a pouch of iron filings and sprinkled a smaller circle around the radio. Then he took Chirrut’s and Cassian’s hands.

‘We call to one in the Yonder,’ Chirrut’s voice rang out. ’We invite you to parley with us. We would speak with Tarre Vizsla.’

The fluorescent lights whined and flickered. The static blared louder.

‘Take your precautions as we have taken ours,’ Baze intoned. ‘We are Guardians. We will keep the balance.’

The tarpaulin flapped sharply. The sweat on Cassian’s brow turned chilly. He tightened his grip on Bodhi’s hand, and Bodhi squeezed back.

The radio choked. Static gurgled and squealed. The fluctuating sound developed a rhythm, rasping up and pausing, then rasping out. Like breathing.

‘Tarre Vizsla?’ Chirrut said. ‘We hear you.’

The breath sped up, turning into a cough. No, not a cough: a laugh.

_I am he._

‘Tarre Vizsla,’ Chirrut said. ‘Welcome.’

The static chittered and lulled, like someone was tuning the dial.

‘Huh,’ Jyn spoke in the quiet. ‘I thought he’d speak Middle English, or something.’

‘It’s different in the Yonder,’ Cassian whispered. ‘That’s how Kay...’

The radio spluttered.

_I hear you._

‘A great injustice was committed against you,’ Chirrut said. ‘I cannot imagine the pain of it.’

_You cannot._

‘Injustice is imbalance,’ Chirrut spoke gently. ‘We understand.’

‘Did you curse this house?’ Baze asked.

 _Difficult,_ the voice was husky. _So... so small._

‘Wait,’ Bodhi’s hand slipped out of Cassian’s. ‘It’s us. We’re blocking it.’

He knelt before the radio. Baze stiffened, but he didn’t try to stop Bodhi.

‘This isn’t the right vessel,’ Bodhi shook his head, ponytail spilling over his shoulder. ‘You need a bigger one.’

 _‘Bodhi,’_ Cassian hissed. He reached out, and Baze pulled him back. He was grim-faced.

‘There,’ Bodhi turned the dial, his head turning with it. _‘There.’_

Bodhi’s shoulders twitched. His head remained bowed.

_‘Better.’_

‘You were invited into that vessel,’ Baze said firmly. ‘You will leave again, when you are no longer welcome.’

Bodhi nodded. He rose to his feet, and there was something different in his posture.

‘We ask you once more,’ Chirrut said, and Bodhi’s head lifted in interest. ‘Did you lay the first curse?’

 _‘The vengeful agony of a righteous warrior?’_ Bodhi’s voice had a harsh edge to it. _‘It would fit, wouldn’t it?’_

‘Hey,’ Jyn thrust her chin at him to get his attention. Bodhi turned smoothly, almost too graceful to be human. ‘Why’re you speaking in third person? Are you Tarre Vizsla?’

Bodhi’s brow quirked, fascinated. His lips parted, but it took him a moment to speak.

_‘I have been Tarre Vizsla.’_

‘Who are you now?’ Chirrut asked.

_‘I have been all of them.’_

‘Let go of him,’ Cassian’s voice quavered. ‘You’re not what was summoned.’

Beside him, Baze shifted in surprise.

 _‘But I was,’_ Bodhi’s eyes were dark and distant. _‘A soldier in a strange land, made scapegoat for a bitter king who died in his own filth.’_

Cassian opened his mouth to call for Kay, but Bodhi stepped toward him.

_‘And I am a girl with nothing to lose but a box of matches. I am hunger. I am the Roman, and the Celt before him.’_

The light at the far end of the basement shattered. The walls groaned, and Jyn grabbed Cassian’s hand.

_‘I have lived in them, and_ **_they have lived in me.’_ **

Cassian’s pulse kicked hard in his throat. Bodhi stood so close that Cassian could taste his breath.

_‘I could be this boy, who thought he was alone. Who wonders if you could love him. You and your shadow.’_

‘But you’re _not,’_ Jyn spat, distracting him. ‘You were an architect.’

Bodhi’s face went slack with surprise. He smiled at Jyn.

 _‘I was,’_ he told her. _‘Drawing self-portraits.’_

‘Why?’ Chirrut prompted him. ‘What were you designing?’

 _‘He never noticed,’_ Bodhi bit his lip in amusement. _‘All the little changes he was asked to make. He never saw the city take the shape of a machine. It’s so simple, you see? A hallway here, a stairwell there…’_

Bodhi’s finger flicked in the air. The dust in the circle sparked and hissed. Cassian blinked, and the afterimage left behind his eyes formed a distinctive shape.

‘Mirrors,’ Baze realised. ‘He built glyphs all around us.’

 _‘Feeding power back through the jaws he stood in,’_ Bodhi’s eyes crinkled at the corners.

‘Who was asking him to do it?’ Chirrut interjected. Bodhi turned again, and Cassian realised belatedly what they were doing. It was smug, easily distracted. Never building power on one train of thought for too long: never breaking through.

 _‘A messenger,’_ Bodhi looked confused a moment. _‘A friend.’_

‘Krennic?’ Jyn narrowed her eyes.

‘A messenger for whom?’ Baze asked.

 _‘The demon Tarkin,’_ Bodhi rolled his eyes.

‘For the Empire,’ Cassian guessed.

Bodhi gave him a tight nod. _‘They understand the potential. They understand power.’_

‘Did the Empire put the curse on this house?’ Cassian asked. ‘How did it happen in the first place?’

 _‘A curse on this house?’_ Bodhi gave Cassian a pitying look. _‘No.’_

Something boomed above them. Dust rained down, and the floor convulsed.

**_‘This house is a curse._ ** _When you hid from the dark outside, sheltering in your caves, you found me waiting. You know me, like you know it is never so dark under starlight as it is under your bed._ **_I am the inside dark.’_ **

Baze and Jyn joined hands with Cassian and Chirrut. The circle buckled and Bodhi fell to his knees. He shrieked, hands curling stiffly, and the sound echoed faster off the walls. The lights were only intermittent flashes now, punctuated by thick black nothing.

 _‘Why do you think none of you fled when you should have?’_ Bodhi jeered. _‘I have you. I have all of you.’_

‘Not yet, you don’t,’ Baze snarled.

Cassian fought every instinct to break Baze’s grip and search for Kay in the dark.

‘Let go of the vessel,’ Chirrut ordered. ‘Our parlay is done.’

Bodhi held his palms in his lap, staring at them. The walls shuddered, chipboard splintering.

 _‘This poor boy,’_ Bodhi’s face twisted, almost sympathetic. _‘The beast that tore through him. All the pieces, makes it… makes it hard to—‘_

‘Go!’ Bodhi rasped, looking up at them. ‘It can’t hold on.’

‘Fight it, Bodhi!’ Chirrut urged him.

Bodhi screamed. Cassian rushed to him, holding his face in both hands. Tears flooded Bodhi’s eyes, and he couldn’t seem to focus on Cassian’s face. His lip trembled.

‘You have to run,’ Bodhi whimpered.

.

ˈ̨̰̯̪͈̻̽͒͛̌̐̾́̽̓͜ͅk̖͔͈͍͉̣̤͊̍͊͂̂͑̚̕̕͢͢æ̩̜̙̜̜̈̋͒͆́̾̿̎̒͆s̴̨̢͍̹͈̜̦̣͂̇̑̐͜͡͡͝ɪ̰̬̺͈̜̤͈͚̓̋̾̾̂̚͢͡͠ə̸̧̩͍͓̤͂͐̏̂̆͋́ͅͅn̡̲̠̝̺̜̩̲͉͒̄̆͆͆̐̔̀̔̚͜

Cassian choked. The sound of his name sunk like a hook through his belly. Kay’s eyes flickered behind Bodhi, shaking as the ground quaked around them. There was a hard crunch, and a ripping sound. In a blink of light, he glimpsed Kay tearing at the chipboard.

‘Kay?’ he called out. ‘What do we do?’

An inhuman sound screeched out of Kay’s vocabulator.

‘He can’t speak,’ Chirrut guessed. ‘It’s too powerful.’

‘Bodhi’s right,’ Baze said. ‘We need to get free.’

‘Then get this out of him!’ Cassian fought through a sob.

Bodhi’s hands curled into fists. He drove them into the floor with a yell. Cassian held onto his face, his thumbs getting wet with Bodhi’s tears, as Bodhi’s breath wore itself ragged.

‘Come _on!’_ Jyn’s fist was in the back of Cassian’s shirt, pulling. ‘It’s falling apart!’

Bodhi slumped, and before Cassian could react, bolted upright with a gasp.

‘Bodhi, good!’ Chirrut said. ‘Break its hold!’

Baze’s foot stomped down, and the circle opened. The moment it did, an ear-splitting ringing filled the air. Cassian coughed through dust, wrapping his arms around Bodhi. They stumbled upright. Jyn was still holding his back.

Metal fingers closed around Cassian’s arm. Kay pulled them forward. A beam of light swung through the dark: Kay pressed the torch into Cassian’s hands.

The ceiling jolted lower. Kay was stooping, leading them along.

‘Keep moving!’ Baze called from nearby.

Debris tinkled and rattled underfoot. The floor began to tilt.

‘No,’ Jyn’s voice filled with panic. _‘No!’_

They surged ahead as gravity shifted faster. Cassian tripped, and Bodhi hauled him up. He came face to face with Kay, and Kay’s reflectors filled with gold in the torchlight.

.

k͓͍̼̖̤̖̝͈̈̀̿́̋̕l̸̳͇̮͖̠͙̰̾͑̒̍̓̋̍͢a̷̫̼̰̹̦͙͑̓̆̋̈́͂͊ɪ̢͎̪̦̬͉̹̈̃̀́͒̉̈̈́͜͟͢ḿ̶̛̺̝̤̘̼̖̗̜̣̽͆͆̀͛̎͘͢

.

Kay shook his head in frustration. He gripped a listing chipboard wall and tore it away. The word was written in dark smearing streaks on the brick foundations.

_Climb._

‘This way!’ Chirrut called to them. They scrambled after him, dodging a fluorescent light that swung loose from the ceiling.

‘Wait!’ Jyn let go of Cassian’s shirt.

 _‘Jyn!’_ Cassian wriggled free of Kay’s grip. She skidded along the floor and grabbed onto the shelving. She wrestled something free from it, ignoring the cracking concrete underfoot. Cassian lunged for her. A tin of paint slammed into the ground beside them. A second tin hit him in the shoulder and he yelped, losing his grip on Jyn. The others were shouting. His ears rang too loudly to make sense of it. The ground lurched, and he fumbled for a handhold.

Jyn was on the far side of a new ravine. She clung to a rusted pipe, flinching as it coughed water at her.

‘Baze!’ she called out. She’d have a better grip if she wasn’t cradling a box to her chest.

‘Let go of it!’ Baze told her.

‘I can’t!’ Jyn shouted, her hair whipping in her face. ‘It’s his!’

Cassian cursed. Jyn only needed a bit more clearance before she could reach Baze’s hand. If Cassian braced himself against the rumbling concrete—

Everything froze. His joints locked up. He fell rigid to the ground, unable to stop himself.

It had been a long time since Kay had done that to him.

Cassian exhaled sharply, searching the flickering space without being able to turn his neck. A metal arm wrapped around his chest and Kay dragged him free of the wreckage. The others had made it to the stairwell, and Cassian’s muscles unclenched enough that Kay could put his feet back on the floor. His vision swam, shoulder pulsing with pain.

‘Come on,’ Bodhi’s hand was clammy in his. ‘Don’t let go.’

They formed a chain: Kay supporting Cassian, Cassian holding Bodhi’s hand, Bodhi clinging to Jyn’s sleeve, Jyn gripping a strap on Baze’s pack, and Chirrut keeping his hand on Baze. Cassian stumbled up the stairs, toes catching on the edges, while Kay and Bodhi propelled him forward.

‘The stairs split!’ Jyn called out. ‘Which—?’

‘The string!’ Bodhi told her. ‘Follow the piece of string!’

As Kay pulled Cassian past the landing, the false stairs rearranged themselves into a jagged descent. A hint of light lay around the next turn, but the string led the other way. Cassian’s legs were beginning to ache, they’d climbed so far. Each step seemed steeper than the last. Minutes stretched between the landings, but the string stayed tight, and the promise of daylight was around every corner.

Cassian’s foot caught on a stair, and he slid down. The floor hit his chin, knocking the sense out of him. His shoulder screamed when Kay picked him up. Or Cassian screamed. He clung to Kay’s chassis as it bounced underneath him. It was a fireman’s carry, he realised belatedly. Behind them, the stairs were crumbling into rubble.

Baze shouted, and Chirrut next. Cassian tried to twist around, to see what had happened, and the light stung his eyes. Bodhi and Jyn were gasping for breath. Cassian’s stomach lurched as Kay dumped him bodily on the hallway floor.

The painted door slammed shut behind them.

‘Cassian!’ Bodhi’s wide eyes filled his view. ‘Are you hurt?’

‘No,’ Cassian mumbled, then winced as his arm throbbed.

‘He’s stunned,’ Kay’s vocabulater crackled as it returned to English. ‘What about the rest of you?’

‘Shaken,’ Chirrut reported.

‘Bruised,’ Baze said.

‘You…’ Cassian racked his brains for the words. ‘You let it possess you.’

‘We had to know,’ Bodhi shrugged weakly.

‘We had to…?’ Cassian’s laugh sounded abstract in his ears. ‘You’re unbelievable.’

Bodhi gave him a little smile.

‘It said…’ Cassian reached out, and Kay was the one who grabbed his hand. ‘It said you were…’

Bodhi’s gaze slunk away from Cassian’s. He bit his lip.

‘Jyn?’ Chirrut asked. ‘What did you take?’

Jyn was still huddled around the box. Her knuckles were white. Her chin wobbled as she lay it in her lap. The others gathered around her, Kay’s hand splayed on Cassian’s lower back to keep him upright.

Jyn unclipped the clasp on the box with shaking hands. She raised the lid and revealed a stack of papers inside.

Cassian squinted at the blurring text.

‘Is that…’ Bodhi breathed.

Jyn nodded.

‘It’s the will,’ she sniffled. Her fingers left smudges in the margins as she read. ’He left it to me.’

A sob escaped her, and another. Baze put an arm around her, and Jyn buried her face in his shoulder. She cried, until her voice was scratched and her breath hitched.

She picked up the will, and let Galen go.


	9. Finally, he gathered himself together and spoke. ‘What the hell?’

Cassian knew he’d lost a few minutes, but he didn’t remember them leaving the hallway.

‘Hey,’ he pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Where’s the back door?’

Bodhi looked up, and scowled. Baze cursed. Jyn, still wiping her swollen nose, leaned over to look through the kitchen door.

‘That’s…’ she blinked slowly. ‘That’s the office.’

‘Did we—?’ Bodhi jogged to the sharp bend in the hallway. There hadn’t been a corner in the hallway before. ‘What the fuck?’

Cassian listed to one side as he looked above him. He should have been leaning against the linen cupboard, but it had the same keyhole as the bathroom doors.

Baze muttered something in Mandarin. ‘Where’s the kitchen?’

‘Was there a trapdoor?’ Bodhi called out.

‘Don’t touch it!’ Jyn and Cassian yelled in unison.

‘This _does_ present some difficulties,’ Chirrut remarked.

‘Are we _upstairs?’_ Cassian groaned. His shoulder hurt too much to deal with this.

‘Can’t be,’ Jyn pointed to a window in the office. ‘There’s the backyard.’

Baze paced down the hallway, opening each door as he went.

‘Cupboard,’ he announced. ‘Lounge. Jyn’s room.’

He made a noise of irritation.

‘Same cupboard again.’

Jyn scrambled to her feet. ‘Where are the doors out?’

‘I see the front door,’ Bodhi reported. ‘It’s a dog-leg turn.’

Cassian watched Jyn run to the corner, waiting for her to confirm she could see Bodhi.

‘Baze?’ Chirrut called to him. ‘Where’s the banishment ring?’

‘The _wall,’_ Baze growled.

Cassian tried to get up, and nausea sent him slouching into Kay’s chassis. He looked up, and Kay looked down at him.

‘Did we make it angry?’ Cassian asked. Kay angled his head until he wasn’t upside-down anymore.

‘The changes have been getting faster,’ Kay said. ‘It may not be your influence at all.’

‘But _this…’_ Cassian shut his eyes. It made it easier to think. ‘This is a lot.’

‘The _sunroom_ is a _courtyard,’_ Jyn said.

‘It’s quite nice like that, actually,’ Bodhi added.

Baze hurried back past Cassian.

‘Where is the kitchen?’ he muttered.

‘Bring ice when you find it?’ Kay asked.

‘Uh-huh,’ Baze went into the office. There was a pause. ‘Found our bedroom.’

Someone was walking up the stairs.

‘Baze?’ Jyn shouted. ‘Kitchen!’

Kay sighed. With no warning, he scooped Cassian into his arms and carried him after Baze. Cassian tried to wriggle free, and whimpered when his back spasmed.

‘Stop it,’ Kay scolded him. He ignored Cassian’s glare.

Cassian tucked his head into the crook of Kay’s arm. Kay was perfectly steady as he ascended the stairs.

‘You said my name,’ Cassian murmured.

‘Cassian?’ Kay repeated.

‘Not like that,’ Cassian’s fingertip squeaked on Kay’s chassis. ‘Properly.’

‘You were slipping,’ Kay said. ‘You needed it.’

‘I had to help Bodhi,’ Cassian replied.

‘You’re falling in love with him,’ Kay said. He said it like the sky was blue, like water was wet. Like he knew Cassian better than anyone, because he did.

Cassian frowned. ‘I’ve known him for four days.’

‘Longer than that,’ Kay said, and carried him into the kitchen. ‘You’ll see.’

‘Fuck!’ Baze slammed the fridge so hard the condiments jingled. He was brandishing the milk like a weapon.

‘Baze?’ Cassian let Kay lower him into a chair. ‘What’s wrong?’

Baze popped the carton open, holding it away from his face. He tipped it into the sink. The lumps plopped into the drain. A moment later, the smell reached Cassian’s nostrils, and he gagged.

‘A week,’ Baze muttered. ‘We lost a week.’

‘Five days,’ Kay said. ‘Your dumplings will have gone bad.’

Baze broke into a string of curses, heading out to find the others. Kay went to the freezer, taking out the same bag of peas that had been on Bodhi’s head—when? More than four days ago. He thumped it against the counter, breaking up the ice, and pressed it to Cassian’s shoulder. Cassian held his hand over Kay’s, clutching the bag tighter.

‘Where’s my…’ he fumbled for his phone, and it fell on the floor. Kay handed it to him. ‘It’s dead.’

‘It doesn’t usually last five days,’ Kay reminded him. He swept the hair out of Cassian’s face and looked in his eyes. ‘You’re not concussed.’

‘Well, that’s something,’ Cassian grumbled.

‘Cassian,’ Kay said. ‘I’m sorry I had to still you.’

Cassian snorted softly, closing his eyes. ‘It’s been a while.’

It had terrified him, as a child, but everything about Kay once had. Since he’d put Kay in the hull, Kay had only paralysed him a handful of times: when Cassian was blackout drunk, or about to electrocute himself, or both.

‘I know you don’t like it,’ Kay said.

‘I don’t hate it,’ Cassian cracked one eye open. ‘I’m alive.’

‘Hm,’ Kay said—only, it was barely a whir of his processors.

Cassian narrowed his eyes, trying to catch the question on the tip of his tongue. Then Jyn strode into the room, took the bread out of the pantry, and threw it in the bin.

‘Cassian?’ she took a sensor out of the pantry. ‘Why?’

Cassian frowned. ‘I didn’t put that there.’

Jyn took a deep breath, and exhaled.

‘You want some painkillers?’ she offered.

‘Yes,’ Kay spoke for him.

‘Bodhi’s found the upstairs bathroom. I think my dad had…’ she snapped her fingers as she tried to recall. ‘Kinesio tape?’

‘What for?’ Cassian asked.

‘He used to draw for a living,’ Jyn tapped her fingers on her wrists. ‘Fucks up your tendons.’

‘Where are Baze and Chirrut?’ Cassian asked.

‘Going to get the bus to Tesco,’ she said.

‘I can—‘

‘You can _not_ drive them,’ Kay interrupted.

’Just had this conversation with Bodhi,’ Jyn said. ‘He seems fine, but…’

She shook her head.

‘I’ll have a look at him,’ Kay promised.

Jyn went to find Bodhi, and Cassian slouched across the dining table. His body seemed to be catching up to the fact that five days had passed.

There was a clattering, a yelp, and the muffled sounds of Jyn swearing. Shortly after, her and Bodhi were back in the kitchen, Bodhi with medical supplies and Jyn with a thundercloud on her face.

‘Found your tripod,’ she told Cassian. ‘In the bathroom cabinet.’

Cassian’s mouth hung open as he parsed what she was saying. ‘How…?’

‘The house is spitting things back out,’ Kay guessed.

Jyn brought a glass of water, and Bodhi handed over the painkillers. Cassian took them silently.

‘Tea?’ Bodhi offered.

‘Yes,’ Cassian rolled his neck until it popped. ‘Yes, please.’

Bodhi brewed him the oolong again, and a cup for Jyn to take as she went in search of a floor plan that matched the new house.

‘Bodhi,’ Kay beckoned him to the table. ‘Sit.’

The tea in Bodhi’s cup rippled as he put it down. His nose was red like he’d been crying, and he was still covered in dirt.

Kay tilted Bodhi’s chin up with two fingers, and looked him in the eye. Cassian chewed the inside of his lip as he watched. Bodhi was trembling, but he didn’t break Kay’s gaze.

‘You’re getting better at this,’ Kay declared. ‘But don’t do it again.’

Bodhi nodded, without sliding off Kay’s fingertips.

‘The tea will help,’ Kay said, gesturing at Cassian. ‘For you as well.’

‘We should…’ Bodhi twisted the Fitbit still on his wrist, squinting at the readout. ‘When you’re ready.’

‘Mm-hmm,’ Cassian sipped his tea. Somehow, he couldn’t muster the energy to care about scientific proof of the supernatural after this morning—or the last five days, depending on how he looked at it.

Kay took the peas off his shoulder, and Cassian shivered at the damp patch it left behind.

‘Shower,’ Kay said. ‘Then tape.’

’Bathroom’s at the end of the corridor,’ Bodhi told him.

‘The death bathroom?’ Cassian asked.

Bodhi shrugged. ‘I’m starting to think there’s not an inch of this house someone hasn’t died in.’

Cassian groaned. ‘You’re probably right.’

‘Do you want me to keep watch?’ Kay offered.

His tone was solemn, but Cassian felt the heat rush through him. He knew, rationally, that Kay had seen all of him there was to see. Acknowledging it in front of Bodhi was somehow different. It shouldn’t have anything to do with the way Kay had been touching Bodhi’s jaw but it did—it did.

Bodhi’s eyes darted between them.

‘It’s probably for the best,’ Cassian admitted.

When he stood, he realised the painkillers were kicking in. The twinge through his back was turning into a dull throb.

‘Yeah,’ he exhaled, not quite looking at Bodhi or Kay. ‘I should get some fresh clothes.’

‘Small problem,’ Bodhi grimaced. ‘We haven’t found our room yet.’

Cassian scrunched his eyes shut, took a deep breath, and let it out. ‘Okay.’

‘Jyn might have,’ Bodhi stood as well. ‘Or we could ask for some of Galen’s clothes…?’

‘Thank you,’ Cassian said, and Bodhi headed downstairs after Jyn.

Kay went into the bathroom first, and declared it ghost-free. Cassian slunk in around him: there was only room to slink with a seven-foot-tall robot filling the space. Cassian narrowed his eyes at the tub. If there was any blood remaining, it wasn’t visible enough to put him off showering. Besides, he was becoming too aware of how clammy he was. He stepped out of his jeans and briefs. Kay helped pull his shirt carefully over his head. He attempted to reach his socks, and hissed when the angle pulled his arm too tight.

‘Sit,’ Kay ordered him. Cassian perched on the lip of the bath. Kay crouched to roll each sock off, then offered Cassian a hand up. Cassian kept a grip on Kay as he stepped into the tub, leaning away from the shower head until the water ran warm. Only then did Kay let him go, pulling the curtain across.

He couldn’t bite back a moan when the hot water hit his skin. His face turned up toward it, lashes fluttering shut. Streaks of grey slid off his skin, and he blinked at the grit circling the drain. There was a bar of soap in the caddy. As he lathered it, it smelt faintly of oranges.

‘Bergamot,’ Kay told him, without needing to be asked.

‘Excuse _me,’_ Cassian retorted, and slid a handful of suds across his skin. When he reached the bruise on his back, the heat made him sigh. He let it pound away the worst of the tension.

He couldn’t reach well enough to wash his hair, and didn’t risk attempting it one-handed. Rinsing it would have to do.

It would be so easy to sit down. To let the water drum into his back and stream through his hair. To rest his forehead on his knees and forget that he was in a nightmare house. A nightmare house with a limited hot water supply. He thumped his forehead gently on the wall, letting the warmth get under his skin for just a few more seconds, and shut the water off.

Kay had a towel ready to wrap around him. Cassian gave him a weak smile as he stepped onto the mat. Kay rubbed his hair with focused efficiency, then moved carefully to Cassian’s upper body.

‘I can…’ Cassian started, as Kay knelt in front of him.

‘You can stay still, is what you can do,’ Kay informed him. He wasn’t rough with the towel, or hurried. No matter how strange things had been lately, Cassian couldn’t find the energy to be self-conscious—not with Kay. He braced a hand on Kay’s shoulder as Kay helped dry him down to his feet.

‘You’re a good nurse,’ Cassian said.

‘You’re a terrible patient,’ Kay replied.

Kay wrapped the towel around Cassian’s waist. His hands stayed at Cassian’s hips just long enough for Cassian to open his mouth, to ask—he didn’t figure out what he was going to ask, because Kay used the grip to steer Cassian to sit on the lip of the bath again.

Kay opened the door.

‘Bodhi,’ he said, at a volume that suggested Bodhi had been hovering nearby. ‘We need you.’

‘We…?’ Cassian started, then was distracted by Kay somehow shuffling himself back enough to make space for Bodhi to squeeze in with them.

‘Here,’ Bodhi put a stack of neatly-folded clothes next to the sink. ‘Jyn thinks these will fit.’

‘Would you?’ Kay took the roll of kinesio tape from the pile and offered it to Bodhi. ‘You’ve got thumbnails.’

He managed to make it sound spiteful enough that nobody in the bathroom would forget whose fault it was he didn’t have thumbnails of his own. Bodhi snorted, unrolling the tape. Kay took the scissors and cut a strip. He then took it from Bodhi, since metal thumbs had the advantage with sticky materials. Cassian drummed his fingers on the edge of the bath.

‘Shuffle round,’ Kay nodded at Cassian, who obeyed.

The tape pressed close to his spine.

‘Anchor it for me?’ Kay asked. Cassian twisted, and Kay immediately followed with: ‘Not _you.’_

Cassian mumbled an apology, then Bodhi’s hand was pressing the tape down. Kay smoothed it in a horizontal line across to Cassian’s upper arm.

‘You’ve got a hell of a bruise,’ Bodhi whistled through his teeth.

Cassian tried to look over his shoulder, and Kay turned him to sit straight with a firm push to his cheek.

‘Terrible patient,’ he repeated, and Cassian listened to another strip being stretched and cut. He twitched when this one started at the middle of his back. Bodhi’s palm was warm on his spine, and Kay pulled the tape to meet with the first piece. He pressed it into place, moving back and forth across Cassian’s skin.

‘Two more.’

There was a moment before Bodhi’s hand moved away. Cassian bit his lip, staring resolutely at the tiles. Kay took Cassian’s arm and guided it forward, then put Bodhi’s hand in place to steady it.

Cassian could feel his heartbeat in the roof of his mouth. They cut two more pieces, laying them from Cassian’s bicep to his collarbone. Hands on top of hands, putting him back together.

‘That’s very good,’ Kay said quietly.

Something coiled tight in Cassian’s belly.

‘Thank you,’ Bodhi replied.

Cassian shut his eyes, as the feeling in his stomach turned to stone. Bodhi lowered his arm, and Cassian couldn’t hold back a shiver when fingers raked through his hair. Then he realised Kay was steering him to stretch his neck, testing the tension.

‘That better?’ Bodhi sat on the tub’s edge, facing the opposite direction and leaning back so Cassian could see him.

Cassian swallowed thickly, reminding himself to nod as he swung his arm in a slow circle. Bodhi’s eyes crinkled as he smiled.

‘You’re not shaking any more,’ Cassian said as he realised it.

Bodhi pressed his lips together, shrugging. ‘Helps to have something to concentrate on.’

Cassian made a noise of agreement. Bodhi’s gaze shifted, only for a moment, in a way that made Cassian very suddenly aware he was in nothing but a towel. Swallowing again didn’t make his throat any less dry.

‘I’ll let you get dressed,’ Bodhi hopped to his feet. ‘Um, Kay?’

Kay stepped silently aside, so Bodhi could slip out the door.

Cassian didn’t get up. He gripped the edge of the bath so hard his knuckles ached, and then looked up at Kay.

For most of Cassian’s life, Kay had been a silhouette with two bright-glowing eyes. He’d managed a good likeness with the helmet and the reflectors, and Kay had made some adjustments of his own. Inside the hull, Kay could still convey every sardonic thought and backhanded fondness he’d ever been able to before he could speak.

Cassian didn’t recognise the expression on his face.

Kay offered him a hand, and Cassian let himself be pulled to his feet and put on the bathroom floor. His face was close enough to the chassis that his breath left a cloud of fog on the metal.

‘I don’t…’ Cassian ran out of air before he could finish the sentence.

‘Me neither,’ Kay admitted. They stood still, heat pounding in Cassian’s ears, and Kay slowly reached over to take the flannel Bodhi had brought. He unfolded it, the fabric brushing Cassian’s chest, and leaned over to get Cassian’s injured arm in the sleeve. Cassian helped with the other arm, and kept himself still as Kay fumbled with the buttons. Neither of them spoke as Kay worked his way past Cassian’s navel, drawing the fabric together at his chest, hesitating at his clavicle. He left the top button loose, his hands circling Cassian’s neck as he smoothed the collar.

‘Thanks,’ Cassian breathed. Kay only nodded. That left slacks, socks, and—Bodhi had brought it just in case Cassian didn’t find it too weird to wear a dead man’s clothes—underwear.

Two of Kay’s fingers hooked into the towel, loosening it. His processors hummed. Cassian’s eyelashes fluttered. Kay couldn’t possibly have missed the effect this was having on him.

‘I can—‘ he croaked.

‘Of course,’ Kay stepped back. He turned, and shut the door silently behind him.

Cassian cranked on the tap and splashed cold water on his face. The towel fell to the floor, and he swore as quietly as he could. His dick was so hard it hurt. He pressed his palms into the counter and glared at himself in the broken mirror.

‘He said you were in love with Bodhi,’ he told his reflection. ‘So what the hell are you doing?’

A shadow moved behind the shower curtain. He jumped, twisting around to yank it back. There was nothing there.

Well. That dealt with his other problem. He grumbled to himself as he finished getting dressed, stealing a glance at the mirror. This time, there was nothing.


	10. I'd sell you to Satan for one corn chip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Claustrophobia warning for this chapter and the next one: characters get trapped in crawlspaces.

The scent hit him the moment he opened the door. He followed it to the kitchen to find Bodhi, Jyn, Baze, and Chirrut at the table, passing containers of curry between them.

‘Cassian!’ Bodhi beckoned him over. Someone had brought the office chair up, so he didn’t need the stool. ‘Baze and Chirrut brought lunch.’

Cassian took an empty bowl and filled it. He threw a glance over his shoulder: Kay was standing at the island, engrossed in the circled maps. He didn’t acknowledge Cassian, and he did a halfway good job of pretending it was an accident.

Cassian sighed, and decided it was better dealt with after korma.

‘Baze,’ Jyn mopped her plate with naan. ‘What did you call the mirror things?’

‘Mirror glyphs,’ Baze yawned, resting his head on Chirrut’s shoulder.

‘Normally, power would spill out of a place like this,’ Chirrut explained. ‘Every life, every death feeds it energy. Like flooding after a storm. When it overruns, it soaks into the ground.’

‘So the mirrors trap it?’ Cassian guessed. ‘Store it, amplify it?’

‘He’s building a dam,’ Jyn realised. ‘It’s been feeding more souls to the house, right?’

‘And this house is already hungry,’ Kay confirmed.

‘A dam can only store so much,’ Chirrut said. ‘Eventually it breaks.’

‘What happens to the house when there’s too much power?’ Jyn asked.

‘Exactly what’s happening now,’ Kay said. ‘It pulls us all in.’

‘A cataclysm,’ Bodhi drew a circle on the table with his finger. ‘Galen called it a weapon.’

‘What _for?’_ Jyn asked. ‘What’s he going to do with a weapon?’

‘The Empire?’ Kay suggested. ‘They’ve always wanted to break through.’

‘How long’s Krennic been at this?’ Cassian frowned. ‘The gateway here is ancient, right?’

‘He may just be an ambitious man,’ Chirrut said. ‘Brokering a deal with forces more powerful than himself.’

‘That sounds like him,’ Jyn agreed. ‘An ordinary arsehole fucking capitalist.’

‘I can’t imagine this house blasting a hole in reality will do much for the property market,’ Bodhi pointed out.

‘If he’s made a bargain with an eldritch evil, he might not be worried about the property market anymore,’ Jyn pointed out.

Bodhi raised his eyebrows, conceding to her point.

‘How does he trigger the weapon?’ Cassian asked.

 _‘It’s Yonder,’_ Jyn and Bodhi recalled at the same time.

‘He’d have to summon the demon,’ Chirrut said. ‘The one who gave him the idea.’

‘Tarkin,’ Bodhi drummed his fingers on the table as he remembered. He turned to Kay. ‘Do you know a Tarkin?’

‘Do you know the Earl of Wessex?’ Kay shook his head. ‘I cannot exaggerate how low on the furthest-flung, bottom-most rung I was in the Empire. They haven’t even realised I’m gone.’

Cassian ducked his head in a smile.

‘Right,’ Jyn stood, placing both her hands on the table. Baze snorted awake, un-peeling himself from Chirrut’s shoulder. ‘I have to say this. It’s my house; it’s my responsibility. If I sell it, some poor bastard’s going to get killed in it, right? And if I leave it empty, Krennic will do what he wants with it.’

She looked at all of them.

‘Kay says that power is _keeping_ us here, but none of you have to stay,’ Jyn said. ‘We’ve left before, on errands. There has to be a chance you can still get out.’

‘If the Empire uses this weapon, there’s nowhere you can hide,’ Kay said. ‘It won’t just be Nottinghamshire that falls.’

‘It’s very kind of you, Jyn,’ Cassian said. ‘But you need us, if you’re going to stop the cataclysm.’

‘We were hired to find out if Krennic killed Galen,’ Chirrut said. ‘And to keep you safe. We’ll stay until the job’s done.’

‘Bodhi,’ Jyn’s brow crumpled. ‘You were just the mover. You could leave.’

‘I don’t think I can, actually,’ Bodhi murmured. ‘It’s been pulling us, ever since the first day. You feel it?’

‘But you _should,’_ Jyn begged him.

‘I came to clear out the house,’ Bodhi shrugged wryly. ‘I’ll finish what I started.’

Jyn bit her lip, then squared her shoulders.

‘Right,’ there was steel in her voice. ‘How are we doing this?’

‘We could go after him,’ Cassian mused.

‘And do what?’ Jyn grimaced. ‘Kill him? Tell the council he’s dabbling in occult gentrification?’

‘He will come to us,’ Chirrut said. ‘He can’t trigger the cataclysm from anywhere else.’

‘Oh, tell me we’re not about to _Home Alone_ this house,’ Bodhi looked half-horrified, half-delighted.

‘The house does a good enough job of that itself,’ Kay drawled.

‘Wait,’ Bodhi narrowed his eyes at Kay. ‘You’ve seen _Home Alone?’_

‘I have to do _something_ when Cassian’s busy,’ Kay pointed out.

Baze snuffled, and Chirrut asked him a quiet question. It took Cassian a moment to realise they were speaking Mandarin, and that’s why he couldn’t follow.

‘Whatever we do,’ Baze grumbled, ‘We’re doing it after a nap.’

Without waiting for any argument, he shuffled out of his chair and through the kitchen door. Chirrut sighed fondly, and followed him.

Jyn rubbed her forehead. ‘Okay. So if he gets here—‘

There was a buzzing from the counter. She stood bolt upright, then realisation dawned on her face. ‘Phone!’

She fumbled to unplug it as it continued to vibrate.

‘Oh, shit,’ she muttered. ‘Mate in Edinburgh.’

Bodhi shared a look of concern with Cassian. They made no attempt to hide their eavesdropping.

‘Hera!’ Jyn’s face was seized by guilt. ‘Yes, I’m okay, I’m alive. I’m really sorry. It’s just been a nightmare, I haven’t been keeping my phone charged. No, no date for the funeral yet…’

She hurried out of the kitchen, her voice disappearing downstairs.

’Baze is right,’ Kay said. ‘You _should_ rest.’

‘I guess there’s the lounge room?’ Bodhi grimaced.

‘What’s wrong with the lounge room?’ Cassian asked.

‘It’s nothing, it’s just…’ Bodhi exhaled roughly. ‘None of the walls are at right angles anymore.’

‘The house tried to bury us alive,’ Cassian pointed out.

‘Yeah,’ Bodhi pulled a face. ‘And if it’s gonna try again, I feel like it’ll start in the lounge room.’

Cassian pressed his thumb into the ache above his eye socket, and decided to defer to the psychic.

‘I’ll find the room,’ Kay volunteered. ‘There’s only a four doors we haven’t tried.’

 _‘Only_ four,’ Cassian echoed, and Kay left. Bodhi stared unfocused at the table, and Cassian realised he was the only one who’d had a shower and some medical attention since the morning.

‘Hey, I’ll pack this up,’ he gestured at the containers. ‘You follow Kay.’

‘I can help,’ Bodhi insisted, getting up with a fresh burst of energy. They stacked boxes and wrapped leftovers, filling a shelf on the fridge. After Cassian shut the door, he turned and leaned back against it. He drew a breath in, and let it out. Bodhi was standing so close, Cassian could feel the heat coming off him.

‘Aren’t you tired?’ Cassian asked, peering at him.

‘Yep,’ Bodhi wiggled his hand. ‘Sort of riding on the fear of a demonic Empire tearing a hole through the world.’

Now Cassian was looking, he could see the greenish tint under Bodhi’s eyes.

‘In the basement…’ Cassian swallowed. ‘That thing. It could’ve killed you.’

‘It could’ve killed any of us,’ Bodhi reasoned. ‘We had to know what it wanted.’

Cassian reached out. He took Bodhi’s hand and squeezed it. Bodhi squeezed back, shifting closer.

‘You scared me,’ Cassian admitted. Bodhi’s hand twisted, weaving their fingers together.

‘It couldn’t hold onto me,’ Bodhi murmured. ‘Not while I was holding onto you.’

Bodhi drew his bottom lip between his teeth. There was the briefest glimpse of pink as his tongue darted out.

His lashes fanned across his cheek as he looked at Cassian’s mouth.

Kay was right. Cassian was falling in love with him.

‘That’s not what it said,’ Cassian could taste the air between them. ‘It said you were in pieces.’

Bodhi froze. His mouth became a tight line, his gaze sliding off Cassian’s face to the counter behind him. When he looked back at Cassian, there was an over-bright sheen in his eyes.

‘Right,’ he spoke through his teeth. ‘Broken.’

‘No!’ Cassian’s voice was so loud it startled both of them. ‘Bodhi, no. I didn’t mean it like that.’

He clung to Bodhi’s hand before he could turn away.

‘You think I don’t _know_ that I’m…’ Bodhi shook his head, jaw clenched.

‘You’re not,’ Cassian exhaled through his nose, furious with himself. ‘It’s just. It’s been a long morning.’

‘Kay thinks I’m managing,’ Bodhi muttered.

Cassian let go of Bodhi’s hand. His mouth opened wordlessly.

‘You are,’ Kay’s appearance in the doorway made both of them jump. ‘But I think you need a nap.’

Cassian watched about nine emotions flicker across Bodhi’s face at once.

‘I found the bedroom,’ Kay jerked his thumb. ‘Next to the front door.’

 _‘Thank_ you, Kay,’ Bodhi said, a little too cheerfully. He strode out of the kitchen.

Kay stayed in the doorway, looking at Cassian.

‘Did you fuck up?’

All the air hissed out of Cassian’s lungs. He ground his teeth together. ‘Why do you have to assume I…?’

Kay tilted his head.

‘Yeah,’ Cassian thumped his head on the fridge door. ‘I fucked up.’

‘He’ll forgive you,’ Kay said. ‘Come to bed.’

Cassian rubbed his hand over his mouth, like he could push away a kiss that never happened. When he passed Kay, Kay turned with him. Cassian’s breath hitched at the metal palm brushing his lower back, steering him to the stairs. Outside the bedroom door, Kay’s hand slid higher. Cassian leaned back, and Kay’s thumb traced a line over his skin.

Checking the tape was still in place. Cassian bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. Kay reached over him to nudge the door open.

Bodhi was huddled under the blankets. His hair was still tied up: the pillow seemed stark without it snaking everywhere.

Cassian crawled into the bed. He lay at the furthest possible edge. His stomach was sour, churning too much to sleep. He should apologise. Or he shouldn’t open his idiot mouth and make things worse.

Bodhi huffed. Cassian scrunched his eyes shut, waiting to be asked to leave. He wouldn’t, not until he was asked. But Bodhi wriggled, shuffling around behind Cassian, then his arm slipped around Cassian’s waist. Cassian held himself still. Bodhi’s nose pressed between his shoulder blades.

‘I don’t think you’re broken,’ Cassian murmured.

Bodhi heaved a sigh. ‘I’m not sure you’re wrong.’

The heat of Bodhi’s breath dimmed Cassian’s lingering pain. Cassian blinked, watching Kay draw the curtains closed, and then he was asleep.

He woke with Kay’s finger pressed to his lips. He opened his mouth in surprise, and Bodhi whispered _‘Ssh!’_

Through the wall: a knocking.

Then a key turning, and the broken front door being forced open.

‘Jyn?’ called a voice. It was a smug, nasally voice. ‘Anybody home?’

‘Krennic!’ Jyn’s reply was loud enough that she clearly planned on the others hearing. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Well, nobody’s seen you in days, Jyn,’ Krennic was moving further into the hall. ‘We thought you’d gone back to Edinburgh.’

‘Clearly, I haven’t,’ Jyn spat.

‘Does anybody _know_ that?’ Krennic asked.

‘You’re trespassing on _my_ property,’ Jyn warned him.

‘Funnily enough, I’m not here at all,’ Krennic chirped. ‘I’ve been called to do an appraisal in East Anglia.’

Cassian batted Kay’s hand away. ‘We have to—‘

‘You can’t,’ Kay batted him back.

 _‘Look,’_ Bodhi hissed. ‘The door is gone.’

‘What?’

Cassian sat up, peering at the wall. It was blank. He scrambled out of the bed. The window was smothered in ivy. The only light came from the glowing stars. They winked from above, much higher than the ceiling could possibly be.

The room had no door.

‘What do we do?’ he whispered. Bodhi was investigating the walls, looking for a seam. Jyn and Krennic’s voices were getting fainter down the hall.

The floor began to rumble. There was a booming crack, followed by rustling. Bodhi grabbed Cassian’s arm, pointing mutely at the window. The ivy was wriggling, weaving itself thicker.

Jyn shouted something. Footsteps pounded above them.

‘We have to help her!’ Cassian’s throat was tight with worry. ‘Kay, we _need_ to get out.’

Kay nodded, and punched a hole in the wall.

He yanked plaster away, his arm reaching so deep it was buried to the shoulder. He ripped out a chunk of wall, tugging until it was broken down to the skirting board.

The hallway should have been on the other side: the wall was only a few inches thick. But the space Kay had cleared was hollow, and when Cassian grabbed his phone to shine the light into the hole, it was deep enough to stand inside.

‘Fuck no,’ Bodhi muttered, backing away from the crawlspace.

’Do you see any other options?’ Kay asked. The ivy was slithering across the floor toward them.

Jyn screamed.

‘Come on,’ Cassian offered his hand, and Bodhi gripped it tightly. They climbed into the crawlspace, following the muffled voices further inside. Behind Bodhi, Kay followed in a stooping crab-walk. Dust floated in the light of Cassian’s phone, making his eyes itch.

‘Kay,’ Cassian said. ‘Can you break through to the hall?’

Kay braced himself against a support beam and pushed. ‘No. Keep moving.’

They reached an intersection.

‘Left or right?’ Cassian asked. He shone the light in both directions, and further down the right, something hurried away from them. ‘Okay, left.’

They made the turn. The space got steadily narrower, until Kay’s chassis was scraping against the plaster.

‘Wallpaper,’ Bodhi muttered.

‘What?’ Cassian was still shuffling, wedging his knee against the plaster and attempting to kick through.

‘We’re inside the walls,’ Bodhi said. ‘And someone’s _decorated_ them.’

Cassian shone the torch. He’d thought it was naked plaster, but it had a sickly sulphur tint. There was a faded pattern, dull enough to confuse the eye in following.

‘I don’t like this,’ Bodhi murmured. ‘I do _not_ fucking like this.’

‘Then don’t stop,’ Kay advised.

They shuffled further in. The space began to curve, widening enough that they were only half-turned. Cassian picked up the pace, and something bumped his head. He flinched, shining the torch at it. It was the lower corner of a picture frame, swinging slightly from the impact.

‘Who—‘ Bodhi swallowed— ‘the _fuck_ put that there?’

There was a shout that sounded like Baze. Cassian banged his fist on the wall.

‘Baze!’ he called out. ‘We’re stuck inside!’

A force smacked against the wall, and Cassian leapt away from the spot. The nozzle of Baze’s cannon burst through, and Chirrut’s head appeared a moment later.

’Stay there,’ he said, while Baze broke a few more holes. Then he started ripping gaps between them. Cassian wriggled to help, shoving until the wall gave way and he staggered into the lounge room. Bodhi and Kay tumbled out, Bodhi coughing from the dust. Jyn and Chirrut rushed to catch them.

‘Where’s Krennic?’ Kay asked.

‘He’s upstairs,’ Chirrut said. ‘Heading for the office.’

‘Bastard threw a dresser on us,’ Baze shook his head.

‘He’s got a taser,’ Jyn snarled. ‘Fucking hurts.’

Kay was already out the door, hauling the shattered dresser from their path. It took Cassian a moment to get his bearings: the house was starting to resemble its first shape, with the stairwell directly outside the lounge. That put the office over their heads.

Kay lunged up the stairs, the others following quickly on his heels. A sickly green light came from the office. The air was thick with haze, and it stank of damp. The pressure on Cassian’s eardrums was so intense he reeled, almost missing the next step. Bodhi looped an arm around his waist and half-carried him to the landing.

‘Krennic, stop!’ Jyn’s hair whipped around her face.

Cassian and Bodhi veered around the corner in time to see Krennic raise his hands. He’d shoved the rug away to reveal a circle painted in something dark: Cassian didn't have to guess what it was.

‘I call to one in the Yonder!’ Krennic pointed a short knife at the ceiling. ‘I would speak to the great demon Tarkin!’

Baze levelled his cannon at Krennic’s head. The ball of dust exploded at the boundary of the circle, nothing but a puff of air.

‘You idiot!’ Jyn stormed up to the edge. ‘You’re going to get killed!’

‘Not all of us,’ Krennic gave her a pitying smile. ‘This is for the glory of the Empire.’

Cassian blinked. While Jyn distracted him, Chirrut had slipped silently to the far side of the circle.

‘If he breaks the circle…’ Cassian whispered to Kay.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Kay said quietly. ‘It’s started.’

The circle pulsed, and the ripple almost knocked them off their feet. Chirrut raised his cane.

‘Tarkin!’ Krennic’s voice grew shrill. ‘I have fulfilled your quest! I have built your weapon!’

Baze fired another shot, and Jyn threw a paperweight. Both bounced harmlessly to the floor.

Krennic thrust out his bloodied palm. ‘I invite you to open the gate!’

‘What do we do?’ Bodhi asked Kay.

Kay shook his head, grabbing both of them by the arm.

‘You hold on,’ he said.

Chirrut’s cane whipped through the circle with a deafening screech.

The shockwave knocked all of them flying, but they didn’t hit the wall. Cassian landed heavily on top of Kay, with Bodhi sprawled beside him. Far into the gloom, he could see Jyn pushing herself onto all fours. Krennic was nowhere to be seen.

‘Oh, this is bad,’ Kay said.

‘Are we still in the house?’ Cassian rubbed his head, watching the murky outline of Baze pulling Chirrut to his feet.

’This is very bad,’ Kay said. His voice had a rumble to it that Cassian had never heard.

Cassian turned to look up at Kay. Then he looked further up, at the wings, the horns, and two familiar bright-glowing eyes.

‘We’re in the Yonder,’ Kay told him.


	11. I've never been one to half-ass shenanigans.

‘We’re _what?’_ Bodhi said. _‘How?’_

‘The boundary is getting weaker,’ Baze approached with Chirrut. ‘Krennic forced us through.’

‘This is good,’ Chirrut said. ‘We’ve broken this attempt at the gate. We have a better chance of stopping the cataclysm from this side.’

‘If you don’t die,’ Kay pointed out.

 _‘Kay?’_ Jyn gaped at him. ‘Please tell me that’s Kay.’

Cassian would have asked the same question, if his mouth would start working. This was a demon: a proper leather-skinned, spine-studded, pointy-tailed demon.

He angled himself, just slightly, towards Cassian when he answered. ‘It’s me.’

A wisp of fire trailed between sharp teeth when he spoke.

 _‘Oh,’_ Bodhi’s eyes widened. ‘You could only see the robot?’

‘You _knew_ he had wings?’ Cassian couldn’t keep his eyes off Kay. ‘The _whole_ time?’

‘You didn’t…?’ Bodhi asked.

‘As entertaining as this is,’ Chirrut interrupted. ‘We need to find Krennic before he gets to Tarkin and opens another gate.’

‘Where did he go?’ Jyn asked. ‘Where did _we_ go?’

Chirrut cocked his head and rapped his cane on the floor. ‘It’s still the office. It’s just…’

‘Thirty feet wide?’ Jyn supplied.

Krennic’s circle was still in the middle of the room. The border was a rich red in this place, splattering outwards. There was a gap sliced through it: Cassian guessed it was the width of Chirrut’s cane.

‘Krennic’s not here,’ Baze said. ‘We should keep moving.’

He slung his cannon over his back and started heading toward the door. Bodhi lingered, staring at the window.

‘The stars,’ he murmured.

‘Come on,’ Jyn took his hand, and they followed after Baze and Chirrut.

Cassian glanced at his bag of equipment, still lying on the floor from days ago. He wondered if any of it would do any good in this realm.

The others were almost at the door. Cassian started after them, and Kay fell into step with him. The more Cassian stared, the more he could see how the hulking shoulders, the long legs, and the wide eyes fit the silhouette he’d grown up with.

Kay titled his shoulders in a way that said: _spit it out._

‘Why did you just look like… a shape?’ Cassian asked.

‘You’re insensitive,’ Kay said. Cassian opened his mouth to apologise, but Kay continued: ‘It’s difficult to muster up _anything_ visible for your wavelength.’

‘But you could have told me!’ he tried to keep quiet enough that the others wouldn’t turn around.

Kay managed to sound defensive. ‘I didn’t want you to be afraid of me.’

‘Kay, I’m not afraid of you,’ Cassian’s brow wrinkled in surprise. ‘I’m…’

‘Did you hear that?’ Jyn flicked the lights on at the landing.

‘What did you hear?’ Chirrut took a gentle hold of her arm.

‘In the bathroom,’ Jyn frowned. ‘It sounded like…’

‘Careful,’ Baze stood at the door.

‘It’s him,’ Jyn tried the handle, and found it locked. ‘It’s my father.’

‘There are many tricksters in the Yonder,’ Chirrut warned her.

‘It’s singing,’ she crouched, pressing her ear to the keyhole. ‘He used to sing in the shower.’

Jyn bit her lip.

‘I don’t hear anything,’ Bodhi shook his head.

‘If it’s him, he can help: he understands the house…’

She sounded like she was convincing herself as much as anyone. Cassian went to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. He threw a questioning glance back at Kay.

‘I can’t tell,’ Kay shrugged. ‘Your senses are as good as mine, on this side.’

‘We should try,’ Bodhi said. ‘Right?’

Jyn looked at Baze. He sighed, and gave a stiff nod. She opened the door.

Water sloshed out, knocking all of them back. Kay saved Bodhi from being washed down the stairs. Baze took off his wet socks, wrinkling his nose.

‘Papa?’ Jyn whispered.

Cassian took a step forward, wincing at the squelch. The liquid was growing viscous.

The hooks of the shower curtain jingled. Jyn tiptoed closer. The curtain billowed, and for a moment Cassian would swear he saw the outline of a tall man.

There was a screech. The curtain whipped out, smothering Jyn. She let out a muffled scream, her mouth sucking in fabric as she struggled to claw it off. Chirrut and Baze leapt on her and Jyn kicked, not realising it was them. She flung herself back, slamming into the sink. Baze sank his knee into the corner of the curtain and Chirrut pulled with all his might. Jyn flailed, knocking the toothbrush glass from the counter and falling down after it. The moment the glass shattered, the curtain went slack. Jyn dragged herself free, gasping for air. Bodhi and Cassian pulled her out of the bathroom. Her hand was slick with blood, and she picked out a splinter of glass from her palm.

‘Here,’ Baze gave her a washcloth. She dabbed at the grazes, holding her hand up to the light to check there were no more pieces embedded.

‘Nothing too deep,’ she said. ‘Stings like a bitch, though.’

Cassian helped her knot the towel around her hand.

Bodhi had gone quiet again: he was peering at the bundled-up shower curtain in the tub, and the bloodstained glass scattered across the floor.

Without a word, he opened another door. It was the starry bedroom, back where they’d first found it.

‘Bodhi…?’ Cassian followed him in. Bodhi looked at the ceiling and turned the lights on.

‘It’s _like_ the house,’ he said. ‘But only when we’re looking at it.’

Bodhi turned the lights off again. The hair on the back of Cassian’s neck bristled. There was the faintest afterimage of green, floating in the air like fireflies.

‘Weird,’ Baze said, poking his head between them.

A doorknob rattled. Cassian turned, trying to catch the way the stars left zig-zagging trails in his vision. Jyn was fighting to get into her bedroom.

‘What’re the chances Krennic’s in here?’ she grumbled, kicking the wood beside the handle.

There was a thump on the other side of the door. Jyn leapt back. That was when it started.

‘Tell me you’re hearing that…?’ she looked at the others.

Voices were growing louder behind the door. It sounded like a party, or a mob, packed into Jyn’s room. Some shouted, some cried, some laughed. It had to be a hundred people, getting louder. Getting closer.

 _‘Go,’_ Kay shoved Cassian toward the others, steering them toward the stairs ‘They know you’re here.’

 _‘Who_ knows we’re here?’ Jyn called over her shoulder.

‘The restless,’ Kay answered.

The floor was still slippery from water. Bodhi held onto Baze’s arm, while Jyn clung to the bannister. Cassian held a hand out for Chirrut, but Kay nudged him ahead.

‘Faster!’ Chirrut shouted. Cassian ducked his head: they should have reached the ground floor by now. He could see the knob at the bottom of the banister, far below. The stairs shook with the pressure of a stampede. Other doorknobs were rattling.

‘Chirrut!’ Kay called. It was too late. Kay was cramped against a ceiling that hadn’t been there a moment ago. The stairs led up to a dead end, and Chirrut was on the other side.

‘No!’ Baze raced up the stairs, pounding on the ceiling. ‘Chirrut! No!’

There was a sharp rapping of knuckles, and a muffled voice. ‘Baze?’

‘I’m here,’ Baze knocked on the spot. ‘Where are you?’

‘A narrow space,’ Chirrut called. ‘I hear them above me.’

‘Crawl!’ Kay told him. ‘Keep moving, keep making noise.’

There was a rustling, moving across the ceiling. Baze followed it.

‘He’s in that crawlspace,’ Cassian realised, as Kay hauled him the rest of the way down the stairs.

‘We need to get him out,’ Jyn said. ‘Baze, your cannon—?‘

‘I might hit him,’ Baze shook his head.

‘The trapdoor!’ Bodhi cried. ‘There was a trapdoor in the ceiling earlier.’

‘It may not lead to Chirrut,’ Kay warned them.

‘Have you got a better idea?’ Cassian asked. They followed the sound of Chirrut’s scrabbling toward the back of the house.

‘There!’ Bodhi pointed at the ceiling, at the far end of the hall. Cassian had never noticed the seam: it had no hinges, no handle. ‘I can’t…’

‘Here,’ Kay crouched, wrapping his arms around Bodhi’s thighs and lifting him. Bodhi yelped, and Kay’s tail swung wildly for balance.

‘Chirrut!’ Bodhi shoved the outline of the door. ‘Can you hear me?’

‘Bodhi,’ Chirrut’s voice had a thread of worry that Cassian had never heard. ‘Quickly, please.’

Bodhi snarled, bracing a foot on Kay’s shoulder. Kay’s wing scraped against the wall, and Cassian winced as Bodhi nearly impaled himself on Kay’s horn when he shoved his shoulder into the trapdoor. The door gave way with a rush of cold air. Bodhi climbed half into the ceiling, calling for Chirrut. Baze stood directly underneath, while Jyn hovered beside Cassian.

‘I’ve got him!’ Bodhi yelled.

‘You’re not the only one!’ Chirrut replied. ‘Pull!’

Kay took hold of Bodhi’s ankles and tugged. Bodhi slipped half out of the hole, but then Kay was almost yanked off his feet. He braced his foot on the wall, wings beating, and growled. Cassian felt the noise all the way down his spine.

Bodhi re-emerged, Chirrut tumbling out after him. Baze pulled Chirrut into his arms, covering his face in kisses. Kay hauled Bodhi upright. Bodhi spluttered: he and Chirrut were covered in an inch of lint. Baze seemed to notice this as well, coughing belatedly.

‘Ugh,’ Bodhi scrubbed his eyes. ‘Ouch.’

‘Let’s get you cleaned up,’ Cassian gestured to the kitchen.

Bodhi stood gingerly, testing his ankle.

‘Did I hurt you?’ Kay sounded timid.

‘Landed badly,’ Bodhi shook his head, patting Kay’s arm. ‘Thanks for the boost.’

He beckoned Cassian over, and Cassian slotted himself under Bodhi’s shoulder. Together they hobbled into the kitchen, just in time to hear Jyn go: ‘How in the _fuck?’_

She was running the tap. Water poured from it, dripping around the nozzle and falling toward the ceiling. She flinched when it splashed against the ceiling, shutting off the flow.

Kay sighed. ‘Things are different here.’

‘You don’t say,’ Jyn readjusted to hold a tea towel above the tap, catching most of the water. She passed a damp towel to Chirrut, and another to Bodhi.

‘You’ve got to know where your towel is,’ Bodhi smiled weakly, swiping streaks of grime across his face.

‘Hmm?’ Baze was attempting to fill a cup of water. Gravity seemed to have other ideas.

‘It’s from a book,’ Kay said.

Now that Cassian could look at Kay properly, he could tell the difference between Kay’s slate-coloured hide and the leather straps criss-crossing him like armour. Rings and studs of dull metal punctured through parts of Kay, and Cassian couldn’t determine if they were organic or not. Reluctant as he was to admit it, the sight _would_ have frightened his six-year-old self even more than the human-ish silhouette had.

Bodhi approached the sink. ‘Can I?’

Baze stepped back. Bodhi cranked the tap, then stuck his face over it. The method worked well enough, and Bodhi rinsed the worst of the dirt away. He moved aside so Chirrut could do the same. The ceiling was soaked by the time they were clean.

Footsteps sprinted down the hall. There was a bloodcurdling yell, fading from earshot as it went in the direction of the backyard.

‘Do you think that was the Roman, or the Celt before him?’ Jyn drawled.

‘I think it might have been Hungarian,’ Bodhi guessed.

‘Whatever it is, it’s gone,’ Chirrut said.

‘Was it the Empire? Bodhi asked.

‘The more you say their name,’ Kay warned, ‘The more likely they are to hear you.’

‘This is all the activity we’ve been hearing,’ Chirrut explained. ‘Everything drawn to the house from this side.’

As if to make his point, the yelling began again.

‘Can it get in?’ Jyn asked.

‘A better question,’ Baze growled, ‘Can we get out?’

Jyn took a breadknife out of the block and flung the kitchen door wide open. Nobody breathed. Nothing happened.

‘How are we supposed to find Krennic?’ Jyn raised the knife in warning, and they all took a step back. _‘Nobody_ say we need to split up.’

‘There’s a locus within the house,’ Kay pointed out. ‘A vertical column. The office; the basement; the entry hall.’

‘We just passed the hall,’ Cassian said. ‘That leaves the basement?’

Jyn wasn’t listening. She was staring toward the front door.

‘Chirrut,’ her voice quavered. ‘When you broke the upstairs circle…’

‘Oh, shit,’ Baze said.

Cassian raced to the door. He got a glimpse of the ooze that had been spilling down the stairs, forming a puddle at the end of the hall. Then Kay yanked him and Jyn by their collars and slammed the kitchen door.

‘What is it?’ Bodhi asked. But the terror in his eyes said he already knew.

‘The Interrogator,’ Chirrut held his cane at the ready. ‘It’s back.’

‘Do we fight it?’ Jyn tightened her grip on the knife.

‘We try,’ Baze began warding the door. Kay crouched beside it like a predator ready to pounce. There was a slow, sucking noise of the Interrogator approaching.

Cassian considered his options. There might be enough iron in the steel knives to do some damage. He rummaged through a drawer, digging out a cast-iron frying pan. He placed it in Bodhi’s jittery hands.

‘You got it?’ he asked, guiding Bodhi’s fingers to grip the handle.

Bodhi blinked, unfocused. His eyes were welling over.

‘Iron hurts them,’ Cassian told him. ‘You hit it as hard as you can.’

Glasses rattled on the shelves as the demon moved outside. Bodhi clutched the frying pan to his chest.

‘Listen to me,’ Cassian took Bodhi’s face in both hands, until Bodhi looked at him properly. ‘We fought it off last time. We’ve got this.’

‘We don’t,’ Kay called out. ‘But you should kiss him.’

Cassian’s breath caught. Bodhi’s nose crinkled in embarrassment.

Then he kissed Cassian.

Bodhi was shivering, but his mouth was firm. Cassian clung to him to keep his knees from buckling, and for a moment that was all that mattered. Bodhi’s lips parted into a smile, and he rubbed their noses together. Cassian gasped, chasing Bodhi’s mouth. He leaned closer, and collided with the frying pan between them.

The hallway gurgled.

‘It’s close,’ Baze said.

‘Um,’ Bodhi stole another kiss. ‘Do you have something to fight with?’

‘Shit,’ Cassian said. He scrabbled through the drawers for something that might work. ‘Pinche—mierde—shit!’

Wetness was seeping through the gaps around the kitchen door. Cassian grabbed a broom. He knotted a tea towel around the end and lit the stove.

‘Not bad,’ Kay spared a glance his way. ‘It won’t like fire.’

The door was starting to warp away from the frame. From the other side came a frantic bubbling noise.

Cassian lowered the broom over the stove. The tea towel caught fire, and immediately fell off the end of the broom.

‘Cassian!’ Bodhi elbowed him. ‘Light the fucking _bristles!’_

Cassian fumbled to flip the broom around, and this time the flame caught properly. He held it up like a spear.

The door burst off its hinges. Kay attacked. His wings sucked the air out of the room, claws raking through the creature’s rubbery flesh.

Cassian gagged. He had imagined its texture, from the way it had possessed Bodhi. Kay’s analogy of a kraken wasn’t far off: it had dozens of stubby tentacles that it used to haul itself into the kitchen. A longer limb swiped at Chirrut, who jabbed at the webbing between appendages. Baze shot dust at it, and it screeched, squeezing its bulging eye shut. Jyn sliced off a sucker with the breadknife. The howl made Cassian’s gut clench.

A tentacle caught Kay by the tail. He flailed, grabbing onto whatever flesh he found and biting hard. The demon roared and flung Kay against the wall. It moved with eerie slithering speed to smother him.

‘No!’ Cassian swiped the broom at its back. The translucent skin curled away like burning paper. One eye roved toward him. Bodhi whacked the beast with his frying pan, and it made an colourful squelch.

The demon twisted another tentacle around Kay’s horn. Kay staggered to his feet, sending a desperate look at Cassian.

‘Back off!’ Cassian shouted. Jyn kept stabbing, and Baze didn’t stop drawing sigils. ‘Stop!’

Kay gripped the appendage that was suckering itself to his face. He asked it a question.

b̢̧̛̰̲̭̿̓͢͞͞ɔ̷̛̙̤̮̯͌̅̽̇͢͡ː̸̢̛̫̪̩̯̻͕̟̲̩̎̆̾͐̃̃̋ˈ̡̛̮̲̤̭͋̊̐̀̍͌g̶̝̠̱̣̤͖̮͚̮͗̈́͗̈͜͡ʌ̴̺̝̠̭̯̮̏̑̍̽̊̒ļ̝̝̬̥̯̆̈́̒̂͗͞ɪ̴̢̙͎̭͎̫͒͛͌̿̊͒̔͘̚͡ẗ̷̗͙͚̳̥̀̉͘͠

Jyn gagged at the sound, while Bodhi staggered against the wall.

The creature oozed forward in curiosity, dragging Kay into its clutches. There was a groaning, followed by a wet snap. Kay made a noise Cassian had never heard before: it might have bene a whimper. His wing hung at an odd angle. Cassian rushed forward to help, but Kay halted him with a glance.

The beast replied.

.

ˈ̲̬͔͖͔̣̏̊͐̔̚͜͢t̸̺̩͍̥̙̺̪̏̀̀͆̂̐͢͟͝͝͡͝ṙ̴̛̺̙͉̻̝͆̏̿̑̈́̂̀ê̢̧̡͚̙͎̭͉̣̓̀̽̇́̆ͅɪ̸̨̧̮̺̺̤̪͓̩̅̆͛͂̆͘͠t̴͖̹̟͉̲́̏̄͐̓͞ə̷͖̹͕͎̯̣͌̃̍̀̕

It turned toward Cassian.

  
.  
h̞̲̘͈̙̭̯͉͈̀̾͗͋̆͛͘͡͠͝ɪ̨̘͔̞̪͔̓̋̑͋͗͘͜͟͜z̸̡̮̬̱̤͗̊̉́̓͂ b̸̧̢̭͈̬͎̼̗̖̼̆̃̋͗͐̕ɪ̸̖̼̦̥̳̿̑̑̊̎̓̿́̕ˈ̼̞̙̠̠̇͛̿̂͑͘̕͘͟͡͡l̻͕̰̗͍̦̖͔͖̟̍̓̀̾̈͠ʌ̮̖̰͔͉̱̪͇̇̒͐́̇̔v̧̖̬̰͎͈͈͑̽̑́̈́́̇̓͢͝͝ḋ̨̼̰̤̣̻̥͉̜̇̊̎̑͛̄?̢͖̮̖̝̗̩̬̆̋̎͆̃̆̎̕͜͝  
  
  


The voice hurt so much Cassian could barely keep his eyes open. His ears itched; his throat seized. He sank his teeth into his lip until he tasted blood.

Kay’s head tilted: _now._

Cassian thrust the broom into its middle. The creature shuddered and reared, heaving itself taller. Cassian scrambled away from the gnashing gummy mouth in its underbelly.

Chirrut and Bodhi struck it from both sides. Baze threw a substance on its limbs that made them spasm and slump.

‘Hey!’ Bodhi beat its mantle repeatedly with the edge of the pan. ‘You remember me? You _miss_ me?’

Suddenly all of its interest shifted towards Bodhi. Dozens of tendrils wriggled across the floor toward him as he hurried back.

An ear-splitting drone made all of them flinch.

‘Oi! You big slimy fuck!’ Jyn hollered. The beast gaped.

She yanked the blender from its cord and threw it at the demon’s mouth. The impact sent a shockwave that tossed all of them backwards. The creature curled in on itself like a dying spider, jittering and thumping as it fought the blender. Chirrut pulled Bodhi to his feet, while Jyn grabbed Cassian.

‘Run!’ she told him. They staggered towards Kay.

‘Your wing?’ Cassian let Kay brace on him as he got unsteadily to his feet.

‘It will heal,’ Kay replied. ‘We have to run.’

Cassian had forgotten, in the years Kay had been using bike reflectors for eyes, how they used to glow like phosphor.

‘Outside!’ Chirrut instructed them, and Baze threw the back door open. They stumbled through, and Cassian gasped lungfuls of fresh air.

‘Wait,’ Jyn froze.

They were in the sunroom. There was a door at the end, covered in ivy, and she wrenched it open.

It led to another sunroom. Baze picked up a shovel, hurling it at the glass. Vines wriggled and knotted themselves over the hole. This time, Jyn tried the door in the brick wall. It led back to the hallway. The beast in the kitchen turned toward the sound, and she slammed the door. They hurried to the next sunroom, and stopped in the one after that.

‘How are we supposed to get out?’ she asked.

‘Look up,’ Bodhi said.

They all went quiet. Through the glass, far above, the stars winked.

‘They’re not real,’ Bodhi said. ‘It’s the bedroom ceiling.’

 _‘What,’_ Jyn’s voice was flat.

‘We’re still inside,’ Baze sounded like he hardly believed it.

‘This is what Tarkin’s designs are doing,’ Chirrut realised. ‘Krennic has been feeding the Yonder house for years. It’s grown as big as the circle.’

‘The circle is fifty square miles!’ Jyn cried.

‘How do you think an Interrogator stumbled in?’ Kay gestured back at the hall.

‘If we can’t kill it, and we can’t run from it,’ Cassian said. ‘What can we do?’

‘Contain it?’ Chirrut suggested.

‘My wards did fuck all,’ Baze pointed out. ‘They’re not made to work on this side.’

‘Could we lure it somewhere?’ Bodhi asked. ‘One of the rooms where the doors disappear?’

‘Whatever you decide,’ Kay pointed at the slime pouring through the ivy, ‘Choose now.’

The goo began to coalesce into a familiar shape. An eyeball emerged, rolling wildly in their direction.

‘Inside!’ Chirrut shouted. ‘We’ll think of something!’

They threw open the door in the brick wall and piled through. Cassian almost tripped on a rake: it bounced over his foot as an enquiring tentacle slithered around it. Bodhi caught his hand, and they sprinted down the hall. Kay’s tail lashed into the wall as he banked around the staircase, lunging up ahead of the others. Baze helped Chirrut dodge the broken circle beside the front door, while Jyn pushed Cassian and Bodhi ahead of her so she could cover their retreat with her knife.

‘How—‘ Jyn panted as she ran— ‘do we find a room—‘ she climbed the stairs—‘that doesn’t trap _us_ first?’

‘The plans!’ Cassian collapsed breathless at the landing with Bodhi. ‘Galen might have found one.’

‘That might actually work,’ Kay said. He was testing the handles on each door. All of them were locked, including the ones with no locks.

‘Galen had _hundreds_ of plans,’ Bodhi pointed out.

’We’re in the Yonder,’ Kay reminded him. ‘Here, we might see what he _meant_ to draw.’

He shoved the office door open.

‘You search,’ Kay said. ‘I’ll keep watch.’

‘Are you sure?’ Cassian put his hand on Kay’s shoulder. ‘You’re injured.’

‘I’m a Watcher, aren’t I?’ Kay cocked his head.

As the others moved into the office, Kay’s hand slid over Cassian’s, holding it for a moment before letting it drop. He gave Cassian a nod, and Cassian swallowed the lump in his throat.

The office was its ordinary size again, and Krennic’s circle had vanished. The light stopped flickering when Bodhi thumped the wall a few times. Jyn hauled boxes off the shelves, taking out reams of paper.

‘It’s exploring the foot of the stairs,’ Kay called out.

Bodhi grabbed random plans, scanning them quickly. Cassian dragged his discarded kit bag out of the way, while Baze reloaded his cannon. Chirrut took the time to do warmup stretches.

Cassian picked up a sheet of paper. Kay was right: the plans were different. Pencil lines flowed and shifted when Cassian held them to the light.

‘None of these,’ Jyn took a box and tossed it out the door. The cardboard gave way, spilling paper down the stairs.

‘That’s put it off,’ Kay reported. ‘Doesn’t seem to like the taste of paper.’

Jyn took a folder and spread its contents across the desk. They were all maps. When Cassian looked from the corner of his eye, the circular sigil became a sphere.

The desk squeaked. Cassian stepped back from it, and it inched closer to him.

‘Getting closer,’ Kay warned them.

‘Is the _desk_ possessed?’ he asked.

‘The floor is moving,’ Chirrut said.

‘The floor is _what?’_ Jyn asked.

But then Cassian felt it. The ground wasn’t level anymore, tilting toward the door. Paper tumbled and streamed onto the landing. A stack hit Kay in the head, spilling around his horns as he climbed around the doorframe to perch in what was now the crook of the wall and the floor. He caught Jyn’s knife as she dropped it, pulling her to one side when Baze landed feet-first on the wall. Cassian tried to mimic Chirrut’s elegant slide. The floorboards grazed from his hips to his ribs as the room swung suddenly sideways and gravity became north.

‘Move!’ Bodhi crash-tackled Cassian. The chair bounced across the floor and splintered into the wall. Galen’s plans fluttered around them, spilling out the door.

‘Wait,’ Cassian tried to stand, and the room rocked threateningly. ‘The paper!’

‘Too late now,’ Baze said. ‘Figure out some other way.’

A _splat_ outside suggested the Interrogator was having no more fun with this than they were.

‘No, the way it’s falling,’ Cassian swatted sheets away from his face as they continued to rain.

‘I see it,’ Kay told him. He kicked another bundle aside, collecting humans on the way.

‘This— _shit,’_ Cassian’s knee hit the next wall as gravity shifted again. ‘The paper coming out of the office. It already happened.’

‘That second morning,’ Bodhi realised.

‘All of it,’ Cassian counted on his fingers. ‘The water in the ceiling, the broken glass. The fucking _doorknobs._ It’s us!’

 _‘What?’_ Jyn scowled. ‘Are you saying we’ve been haunting _ourselves?’_

Books spilled from the shelves. Kay dug his claws into the wallpaper, tearing away stripes of it as the room rotated like a funhouse.

‘Time could be fracturing too,’ Chirrut braced himself in the corner. ‘Everything gets caught in the circle.’

‘The closer we get to the cataclysm…’ Baze trailed off. The door lurched on its hinges. A tentacle slid under the gap. Before anyone could react, the door burst open and the beast began clambering through.

For one nauseating second, they were all flung into the air. Then the floor rushed up to meet them. Cassian yelped as his kit landed solidly on his foot. Jyn had wisely stabbed her knife into the wall to keep it from falling: she was hastily trying to draw it again as the creature wriggled toward her. Baze turned an uncomfortable shade of green. Bodhi backed himself against the desk.

‘Here,’ Cassian groped through his kit, keeping his eyes on the monster as Chirrut attacked it. His fingers closed around the wrench, and he passed it to Bodhi. ‘It’s not pure iron, but it’s heavy.’

Bodhi’s hands were clammy as he took it.

‘Nothing kills it,’ he murmured. ‘We’re just slowing it down.’

‘It’s the best we’ve got,’ Cassian whispered back.

The Interrogator grumbled. Its eye, still red, roved the room until it settled on Bodhi. Kay gouged at it with his claws: it slapped him against the bookcase.

Cassian rummaged through his kit for something, _anything,_ even a bag of iron filings to fling at it. The zipper screeched as it tore away, scattering equipment across the floor.

The spirit trap lit up, its LEDs cycling from red to yellow. The demon burbled in anger, seething toward it.

The trap went _blip._

It was nothing like catching Kay. It sounded more like vacuuming up a plate of jelly. The creature flattened itself, digging every tentacle into the gaps in the floorboards. Its mantle convulsed, veins bursting under the skin. The body stretched so thin it was translucent, and Cassian shuddered at the thought of it snapping, but the trap kept on sucking. Then the beast was gone.

Cassian slammed his hand down on the lock button, and the light went red.

‘Yes!’ he punched the air so hard he pulled a muscle. ‘Fucking _yes!_ It worked!’

‘What _is_ that?’ Jyn asked.

‘A spirit trap!’ Cassian explained. ‘It’s the same kind I used to keep Kay on our plane.’

‘You had it the whole time?’ she asked.

‘I thought it was broken,’ Cassian picked up the trap. The springs jangled. ‘I tried to use it when Galen possessed Bodhi, that first day.’

‘Cassian,’ Jyn’s eyes drilled into his. ‘Broken _how?’_

‘It said it was…’ Cassian dropped the box like it was burning. ‘Full already.’

All the air left Cassian’s lungs. He looked at Bodhi. Bodhi wouldn’t look at him.


	12. The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math.

‘But I can’t have…’ Cassian’s lip trembled. ‘It hadn’t happened yet.’

‘It hated you,’ Kay reminded him. ‘When it saw you.’

‘And now it would appear we know how it got through in the first place,’ Chirrut said.

‘Bodhi,’ Cassian rushed to him. ‘Bodhi, I’m _sorry.’_

Bodhi shrank in on himself. It wasn’t quite a flinch, but it was close enough.

‘You couldn’t have known,’ his lips barely moved. His voice was flat.

‘I figured out the loop,’ Cassian shook his head. ‘I didn’t even think…’

‘I’m the one who flooded the kitchen ceiling,’ Bodhi said. ‘Kay ripped that hole in the wallpaper. And you…’

Bodhi stared at the ceiling, blinking tears away and steeling his jaw.

‘You did this to me.’

‘Cassian.’

Kay touched his shoulder, and Cassian recoiled.

‘He’s right. You had no way of knowing.’

‘That doesn’t matter!’ Cassian’s voice cracked. He dragged his hands through his hair, backing away from Bodhi. ‘It’s my fault. It was _my fault.’_

‘This is a cycle,’ Chirrut said. ‘It has no end, no beginning.’

‘But if I—‘ Cassian picked up the box.

‘No!’ Baze and Jyn shouted together.

‘It’s a paradox,’ Kay said. ‘You have to let it play through, or it will find another way.’

‘But Bodhi…’ Cassian’s chest was too tight to breathe.

This time, Bodhi looked at him.

‘I get it,’ Bodhi bit his lip, nodding firmly. ‘I do. You saved us _now.’_

‘At your expense,’ Cassian sniffled. ‘I would never…’

‘But you did,’ Bodhi’s brow wrinkled. ‘However you look at it: you did what you had to do.’

‘He’s right,’ Kay spoke gently. ‘This house will find a million ways to trick you.’

Baze was steering Jyn and Chirrut out of the office. He gave Cassian a sympathetic nod, and pulled the door half-shut behind him.

‘Bodhi, listen,’ Kay crouched until they were eye to eye. ‘This is hard to say in your language, but…’

Bodhi gave him a weak smile. ‘You’re going to try?’

Kay tilted his head in wry agreement.

 _‘This shouldn’t have happened to you._ But it did. It did, and it’s going to have happened, and it always-will-have-happened to you. And every time— _every time_ it happens—you rebel. You survive.’

‘Fuck,’ Bodhi sniffed loudly, wiping his nose on his sleeve. He scrunched his eyes shut. _‘Fuck.’_

‘You can regret all of this,’ Kay told him. ‘You can hate that it happened. But you know Cassian isn’t to blame.’

Cassian’s shoulders sank. He opened his mouth to say he didn’t deserve Kay’s defense, but Kay waved a warning hand at him without looking away from Bodhi.

‘I don’t… regret all of it,’ Bodhi sighed. ‘I don’t regret meeting you.’

When he said _you,_ his eyes darted between both of them. And Cassian suddenly realised a possibility he hadn’t considered.

‘Oh,’ he breathed. ‘You… both of us?’

Bodhi frowned, puzzled. ‘How could it _not_ be both of you? You’re…’

He made a vague gesture between them.

‘Each other’s,’ he finished.

‘Oh!’ Cassian felt heat rush to his face. ‘Well, I mean, it’s not like that, or, it’s not…’

‘It _is_ a bit like that,’ Kay said.

‘Okay, it _is,_ but if you didn’t want—’

‘I do,’ Bodhi said quickly. ‘I do want that.’

‘Not to ruin the moment,’ Kay said. ‘But this is all going to be moot if we don’t stop Krennic from destroying reality.’

‘Shit,’ Bodhi twisted his ponytail into a bun. ‘Where are the others?’

They checked the landing.

‘Jyn?’ Cassian called.

‘Downstairs!’ she shouted back, and they followed her voice.

‘Bodhi? Are you sure you’re alright?’ Chirrut asked.

Bodhi blew air through his teeth. ‘I’ll be a lot more alright when we‘ve ended this.’

‘Any sign of Krennic?’ Cassian asked.

‘Nothing,’ Baze said. ‘Not yet, anyway.’

‘I’ll bet he’s in the basement,’ Jyn said. ‘That’s where our summoning worked.’

Kay nodded.

‘Where’s the door?’ Cassian asked.

Chirrut clicked his tongue. ‘That _is_ the question.’

‘Wait,’ Bodhi jogged to the kitchen, the others trailing behind. and opened the drawer. He unwrapped a ball of string and dropped it on the floor.

It rolled out the kitchen and down the hall, bumping gently against the wall. When Cassian looked up, a handle had appeared.

‘It remembers,’ Bodhi said.

He held the string between his fingers, nudging the door open. The ball tumbled down the stairs.

‘Take hold,’ Baze said, guiding Chirrut’s hand. ‘We mustn’t lose each other.’

Kay touched Bodhi’s shoulder, taking the lead. They took their places in the line, and began their descent.

‘What do we do when we find him?’ Jyn asked. ‘Kill him?’

‘He’ll try to open another portal,’ Kay sighed. ‘And we have to let him.’

‘What?’ Cassian frowned. ‘Why?’

‘The Empire needs the gateway open to turn the weapon on our world,’ Baze said. _‘We_ need the gateway open to get home.’

‘Can we close it before they fire the weapon?’ Bodhi asked.

There was a pause.

‘Yes,’ Kay said. ‘If we’re lucky.’

‘Isn’t the house full of portals?’ Bodhi asked. ‘I thought that’s how everything’s been getting through.’

‘Mouse-holes,’ Kay explained. ‘Minor demons can slip through, not five humans and an atom bomb.’

The stairs flattened out. Cassian prepared to turn, but Kay was still ahead of him.

‘Hang on,’ Bodhi murmured.

‘It’s the upper landing,’ Chirrut said.

‘Here,’ Kay said. Cassian flinched at the sudden light.

There was a soft _ping_ to his left. Another light went on in Jyn’s room. Ahead, flickering like an old projector, a dozen versions of the landing stretched out like a patched-together tunnel.

‘Keep following the string,’ Baze said.

The rooms had a gradual slope to them: Cassian’s ankles noticed before his brain. In one, water seeped out from under the bathroom door. In another, they heard echoing, off-key singing: Jyn almost let go of the string before Cassian took her hand, keeping both of them steady. At the next turn, the office was sideways.

‘What if we’re too late?’ Bodhi asked.

‘Then it very shortly won’t be our problem,’ Kay answered.

‘He’s waiting for something,’ Chirrut said.

The string led them down the upper stairs. Instead of the entry hall, they emerged in Baze and Chirrut’s room. Baze stopped long enough to restock his supplies.

They took a sharp turn into the sunroom. The string led through a perfect hole melted through the glass wall, ivy growing in thick spirals around it. A tendril of ivy snaked around Cassian’s foot, and he shook it free.

Through the hole was a narrow room none of them had seen before. The wallpaper had a sprawling, flamboyant patterns. Bodhi turned his head and caught Cassian’s eye. He nodded at the picture frame on the wall. In it was a daguerrotype of the house, as it appeared in the newspaper article about the fire. Cassian shuddered.

The string dropped sharply. Through a trapdoor in the floor, Cassian glimpsed the tiles of the upper bathroom. The lip of the bath was stained bright red.

‘No,’ Jyn stopped. ’Not this room.’

‘It’s the only way,’ Kay told her.

Kay looped his tail loosely around the string, lowering himself through the trapdoor to land lightly on the bathroom floor. He reached up, helping Bodhi and Cassian down. The moment he was on his feet, Cassian opened the bathroom door.

‘It’s the lounge,’ he told Jyn. ‘Not much further.’

Her knuckles were white, gripping the trapdoor.

‘Little sister,’ Baze murmured. ‘You must be brave.’

Jyn had her eyes shut as Baze helped her over the edge, and Kay caught her easily. She stayed until Baze and Chirrut were through.

‘While we’re here…’ Chirrut crouched, pulling the string taut so he could reach the bath.

He touched the tub, beside the blood. It was silent, but all of them felt the pressure. Like like diving too deep into water: Cassian’s ears ached and his lungs constricted. The plunging feeling of a hypnic jerk, cut short by the dull impact of bone on ceramic. Cassian had felt it before: he’d felt it every night.

‘It was the house,’ Chirrut spoke gravely. ‘He really did fall.’

Jyn shook her head rapidly, her lip wobbling.

‘No.’

‘Krennic killed your father when they bought this property,’ Chirrut shook his head. ‘He only had to wait.’

‘Fuck!’ she slammed her fist into the mirror. The glass shattered, its cracks forming the shape of the sigil. Jyn glared at it, shaking the tension out of her hand. Without another word, she grabbed the string and followed it to the lounge, forcing Kay to rush back into his place at the front.

‘We should set it on fire,’ she muttered. ‘Burn the whole fucking place to ash.’

‘Someone tried that before,’ Cassian reminded her. He dodged to the side as books toppled from a growing gap between the shelf and the wall.

‘The loop would collapse,’ Chirrut said. _‘Both_ worlds would be devoured by it.’

‘So how do we stop it?’ Jyn snarled.

‘You don’t,’ Kay said. ‘This place wasn’t meant to be a dam. It has a tide.’

‘What does that mean?’ Cassian frowned.

‘Tides turn,’ Kay led them into another version of the kitchen. ‘The power is building, but it could peak without catalysing.’

All eyes turned to Baze and Chirrut.

‘Maybe,’ Baze sighed roughly. _‘Maybe.’_

‘The next tide would rise, in due time,’ Chirrut warned. ‘The cycle would begin again.’

‘That’s what cycles do,’ Kay shrugged. ‘But it’s better than a flood.’

The string had led them back to the painted door. It yawned open before them, the shadows seeming to creep out from the frame.

Kay drew a heavy breath, turning back to the group.

‘This is it,’ he told them.

Baze pulled Chirrut into a fierce kiss.

‘Just in case,’ he said.

‘You always say that,’ Chirrut replied. ‘Let’s go.’

Bodhi reached back, tangling Cassian’s free hand with his own. Cassian kept his eyes on the silhouette of Kay, faintly outlined by the phosphor in his face. He moved gracefully, here: but he had always been graceful, balancing himself uncannily in the cobbled-together hull Cassian had built him. The horns cut through the shape Cassian had known, but there was something undeniably _Kay_ about him. It was the same way Cassian’s name had sounded more like his name when Kay spoke it in his own tongue. Maybe this was what Kay meant about things being true in the Yonder.

The stone led them in a slow, shallow spiral. Creatures scuttled away into the gloom, always a little too far to make sense of their shape.

‘Demons,’ Kay explained. ‘Don’t chase after them.’

Bodhi held Cassian’s hand a little tighter.

They must have walked for miles. The house led them down, down, into the deep.

When Kay stopped walking, Bodhi bumped into his back. Cassian bristled.

‘Chain,’ Kay said. ‘It’s… hang on.’

He reached up, tilting his head at a strange angle. There was a jingle and a snap, and the lights came on.

 _‘Christ,’_ Jyn exhaled in relief.

Kay finished untangling the pull-switch from his horns. The chain bounced free, and he ducked away from it.

The basement was empty—at least, empty of world-ending demons and evil real estate agents. The canoes and shelves were gone. It was only limestone walls, a dirt floor, and some lights in the ceiling that definitely predated the pull-switch connected to them.

‘He’s not here,’ Cassian said, and was answered with five baleful glares for stating the obvious.

‘Not yet,’ Kay said.

‘Wish I’d got that blunderbuss,’ Jyn mused.

Bodhi kept following the string. It was still rolling, unraveling itself around the room. When it finally came to a stop, the loose tail curled neatly over itself to form a circle.

‘This is where it happens,’ Kay said.

‘It’s the same place as before, right?’ Cassian asked. ‘Where we did the summoning.’

‘Yes,’ Chirrut said. ‘We’re earlier than that, though.’

‘Will it be like last time?’ Bodhi asked. ‘Are we going to come up and find years have gone by?’

‘Or none at all,’ Kay said. ‘Time is scrambling.’

‘You tried to warn us,’ Cassian examined the wall as he spoke. ‘You couldn’t speak properly.’

‘I was outside the boundary,’ Kay explained.

Cassian circled the room, searching the limestone bricks.

‘Everything we’ve done here…’ he murmured. ‘All of it happened to us before, right?’

Kay came to stand beside him. ‘What are you looking for?’

‘Give me your hand,’ Cassian said.

Kay held it out. ‘What do you—?’

Cassian pressed the heel of his left palm into Kay’s claw. Kay pulled away, but not before Cassian had pierced the skin.

‘Cassian!’ he hissed in concern.

‘Ssh,’ Cassian raised an eyebrow at him. ‘I’m fine.’

He squeezed the flesh around the cut until blood welled to the surface. Then he swiped the fingers of his right hand through it and started writing.

‘You knew it was written behind the chipboard,’ Cassian drew the _C_ , then the _L_. He had to dip into the wound again to make the _I_. ‘How did you know?’

Kay hesitated. He shook his head.

Cassian wrote the _M_. It was messy, but legible.

‘It was tied to you,’ Kay realised, a wisp of light escaping his mouth. ‘Did you know that would work?’

Cassian shrugged as he finished the _B._ ‘Someone had to write it.’

‘Could have used paint,’ Baze muttered.

‘Krennic’s going to see that,’ Jyn warned them.

‘With any luck, he’ll turn around and leave,’ Baze quipped.

‘What do we do?’ Jyn asked. ‘Wait for him?’

‘I can try to hide us,’ Baze beckoned them to a corner. They huddled close, and he began to ward it.

‘When he comes…’ Bodhi bit his lip.

‘I’ll distract him,’ Kay said. ‘You get through the gate.’

A shiver ran through Cassian. The air outside Baze’s boundary warped. It was like staring at the sun: he blinked away, looking at Bodhi instead.

‘How does he do it?’ Bodhi asked. ‘Open the gate?’

‘It takes power,’ Chirrut said. ‘More power than he has now, or he would have opened it already.’

‘There’s always a cost,’ Kay said. ‘If he wanted to pay it, he wouldn’t have bargained with demons.’

Chirrut raised a hand, and they stilled. A figure in white descended the stairs. The light bent around him: Cassian didn’t dare move to confirm it, but he guessed the distorted shape was Krennic.

He walked to the end of the room. None of them breathed, but he didn’t seem to linger when his gaze swept across their hiding place. He unsheathed a knife, and began drawing a circle in the dust. Cassian didn’t have to watch to know it would follow the shape of Bodhi’s string.

Krennic finished the circle. The dust roared, whipping itself into a whirlwind.

‘He really can’t see us?’ Jyn’s lips barely moved as she spoke.

‘Just don’t move,’ Baze muttered back.

‘O, Tarkin!’ Krennic shouted, with a grandiosity that made Baze roll his eyes. ‘O, greatest demon in all the Empire, come to me!’

Kay shifted uncomfortably. Cassian leaned back against him, and Kay returned the pressure.

There was a pulse underfoot. A rhythm, like marching feet. Chirrut’s shoulders tensed, and Cassian felt a tremor in Kay’s chest. The rhythm made Cassian’s pulse kick unevenly in his throat. It was getting easier to see: Cassian hoped that didn’t mean Baze’s ward was failing.

The dust drew itself up into a shape before Krennic. Humanoid, in tapered grey lines.

’My Lord,’ Krennic’s smile had an edge of insanity. ‘I am your envoy.’

‘Yes,’ the demon’s voice was a cold exhale on the back of Cassian’s neck. ‘You are.’

‘Our momentous undertaking is nigh,’ Krennic made a sweeping gesture.

‘Nigh, indeed,’ Tarkin circled around him. His feet didn’t move: he seemed to slide, his face a colourless plane of subtly shuffling contours that always pointed at Krennic. His lips didn’t quite match with his words. ‘But incomplete.’

‘Another sacrifice is needed, yes,’ Krennic’s jaw had a tic. ‘In my magnificent efforts, I have brought you _five.’_

‘What?’ Bodhi whispered.

‘Oh, shit,’ said Jyn.

Tarkin’s almost-face revolved toward them. The barrier rippled with the force of his glare, and then it popped like a bubble.

Kay pounced. Tarkin twitched, and an invisible force pinned Kay to the wall.

‘Five souls and…?’ Tarkin sneered at Kay. ‘Is that a derelict Watcher?’

‘In case you needed it?’ Krennic was clearly improvising.

Kay snarled, his wing flapping and smacking against the wall. Tarkin regarded him as a lepidopterist would a butterfly. While he was distracted, Chirrut struck. Krennic doubled over with a shout. Chirrut whirled in a second attack, and Tarkin’s gesture flung him back. Baze roared, firing his cannon.

Tarkin dissolved. Only a cloud hung in the air where he had been. Krennic’s mouth was an O of rage.

Cassian ran to Kay where he fell crumpled on the floor. Kay looked into his eyes: _it’s not over._

The dust stirred once more, clinging to itself like so much lint. In a heartbeat, Tarkin had reformed.

‘Such bother,’ he sighed. Cassian felt it like grime under his shirt collar.

Krennic bustled up to Tarkin. ‘Well, of course we can eliminate them. The weapon is almost at full power, pending the sacrifices…’

‘I don’t require five sacrifices,’ Tarkin said. ‘I only require _one.’_

Tarkin moved like the fluttering of a million moths. Krennic barely had time to scream. The grime smothered his face, rushing along his limbs and blooming across his body. Krennic seized and struggled. His yells were muffled, the mass surging across his body in waves. There was a stifled crunch of bone as a leg twisted the wrong way. Krennic clawed at his own face.

‘You can’t,’ Kay growled.

Tarkin’s expression pulled away from the side of Krennic’s face, eyes narrowed at Kay. _‘What_ did you say to me?’

Cassian pulled Kay upright, staggering under his weight. Kay kept a hand on his shoulder: though he stood tall, Cassian could feel him trembling.

‘He’s not yours,’ Kay gritted out. ‘He summoned _the greatest demon in the Empire.’_

Tarkin’s expression flickered around Krennic’s. Motes of dust crumbled away with his skin.

‘No.’

Baze’s shoulders dropped as he realised. Chirrut took a step back.

‘You feel it?’ Kay told Tarkin. ‘The possession won’t take.’

Cassian didn’t breathe. He looked at Jyn and Bodhi, clinging to each other.

‘This is _my_ vessel!’ Tarkin hissed. ‘My weapon!’

‘Best open the gate, then,’ Kay shrugged. ‘Before he arrives.’

Behind Tarkin, Chirrut was silently shepherding the others toward the stairs. Kay surreptitiously pushed Cassian in the same direction.

There was a shriek like fabric ripping. Tarkin coalesced, and pieces of Krennic splattered inside the circle. A blast of air ruffled Cassian’s hair. In the middle of the room, barely more than a mirage, stood the painted door. It had no handle.

While Tarkin searched for the opening, Cassian ran to the others. Bodhi and Jyn caught him, clinging painfully tight to his arms. He clutched them back, his hands slippery with blood. Kay’s wing arched over them protectively, while Tarkin’s form dissolved and tried to slip under the solid door.

Kay stopped. Baze and Chirrut reacted first, pulling the others back from the stairs. Tarkin was still scurrying, trying to finish the gateway.

‘He’s coming,’ Kay snarled at Tarkin. ‘Don’t you hear him?’

There was nothing but darkness. And then, in the darkness, something darker.

A deep, rattling inhale. A harsh exhale, too long after.

It was more than a silhouette. The shadow of shadows. A domed head and broad shoulders, but no surface: a hole in Cassian’s senses.

Not the blade. The blade was a bright, red, and hungry. It hummed so low Cassian’s chest hurt.

Tarkin dissolved and reformed, a flurry of frantic movement, but he was trapped inside the circle.

‘My Lord!’ Tarkin rasped. ‘There are other vessels…’

He flung his arm toward the group, offering them up. For a wretched moment, the demon’s consideration dripped down Cassian’s spine.

The demon held up a hand, or, the absence of anything where a hand would be.

 _‘No,’_ terror filled Tarkin’s voice. ‘My Lord…?’

The hand squeezed, and Tarkin was nothing.

The demon turned toward them. It raised its sword.

‘Run!’ Kay shoved Cassian toward the stairs. Baze fired his cannon, and Chirrut’s cane whirled into a glyph.

‘Kay, _where?’_ Cassian asked, while Jyn yanked on his sleeve.

 _‘Anywhere!’_ Kay’s tail whipped angrily. ‘All paths lead to the gate!’

They stumbled up the stairs, taking any turn they came across. The death rattle wasn’t far behind, echoing off the walls. Baze and Chirrut were closer on their heels, only turning long enough to stall it, buying them time.

Cassian tried to search for Kay, and his foot caught on the stairs. It knocked the wind out of him. His injured shoulder blossomed with pain.

Bodhi dragged him to his feet, pulling Cassian’s arm around his neck.

‘Don’t look back!’ he shouted.

Cassian couldn’t breathe well enough to reply, to beg that _Kay was back there_. He staggered forward, the stairs zig-zagging up and down, no two steps the same size. He heard the blade growling and barking, a flash of red as it swung. Baze roared in pain, and Chirrut cried out.

Jyn was ahead of them, her face locked in anguish with every glance she cast back as they caught up to her. ‘Please, come on, _please…’_

She missed a stair, and disappeared below. Her yell of surprise cut short.

‘Jyn!’

Bodhi crouched, and he and Cassian slid down the sheer slope of a giant stair. They hit the ground roughly. Jyn was on her feet, at least.

Above, there was only red, and the roar of the demon’s sword. Then something heavy landed between them, making all of them scream.

‘Why are you standing here?’ Baze yelled. _‘Go!’_

They sprinted onward. Cassian heard Chirrut’s cane again, his heart clenching with hope.

‘Kay!’ Chirrut hollered. ‘Don’t fall behind!’

They kept running, and the space grew tighter. They could barely move in single file. But Cassian stole another look back. There were horns, far behind them.

‘Can you kill it?’ Jyn panted.

‘There’s no killing it,’ Baze fired another shot. ‘We make it to the gate, or we die.’

They rounded another turn, and the stairs were familiar.

‘Ha!’ Chirrut said suddenly. ‘This will give him trouble.’

His cane switched through the air, in a series of sharp flicks. Baze huffed in pride. Kay dashed past him before he finished the final stroke.

‘Clever,’ Kay said. There was no break in his stride: he slowed only enough to take Cassian’s hand and keep him running.

‘What’s—?‘ Cassian’s breath was getting short, his lungs aching. ‘What’s clever?’

‘A mirror glyph,’ Chirrut explained. ‘In a house like this, it might fool him long enough.’

 _‘Might,’_ Baze repeated.

Then burst around the next turn, and Cassian’s foot sank the earth. It was the basement, again. He heaved a shout of relief as they spilled into the room.

‘Do we…?’ Jyn had her hands on her knees, gasping. ‘Do we just go through?’

The painted door was open by a crack. The sliver of daylight cast a long shadow.

‘You made it,’ Kay told them.

‘Fuck,’ a laugh escaped Cassian. ‘We did.’

Bodhi pinched away tears, shivering with relief. Jyn inched the door further open, her expression full of wonder.

Chirrut and Baze didn’t smile. Bodhi opened his mouth to speak, and his breath caught.

‘How do we close it behind us?’ he asked. His lip trembled like he already knew the answer.

Kay’s shoulders sank.

‘You can’t,’ he said.

 _‘What?’_ Jyn asked. ‘Then how are we supposed to stop the cataclysm?’

It was Chirrut who spoke. ‘Someone has to close it from this side.’

‘But…’ Cassian trailed off.

Kay wouldn’t look at him.

‘No,’ Cassian’s chest was too tight. ‘Kay, _no.’_

‘There isn’t much time,’ Baze touched Cassian’s elbow, and Cassian pulled away like he’d been burned. Baze shook his head. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t apologise,’ Cassian snapped. ‘Because it’s not going to happen.’

Nobody spoke. Bodhi stepped closer.

‘Kay stays with me,’ Cassian‘s voice wobbled. ‘He has to.’

‘Cassian.’

Kay placed his hands on Cassian’s shoulders. The truth was written in his stance, in the angle of his neck, in the sheen over his eyes.

‘No,’ Cassian shoved back. Kay was immovable. ‘You can’t!’

The cry came from deep inside him. He clutched and fought with Kay, but Kay’s talons only dug deeper into the earth. Cassian’s fingers raked along Kay’s chest as he sobbed, like he could drag Kay through the door. His breath came too fast, too shallow, tears streaming down his face as he wrestled weakly against Kay. His arms locked up, knees buckling. For a moment he thought Kay was paralysing him, but Kay didn’t need to. He held Cassian still as the strength drained from him. And then, Kay was simply holding him.

Cassian pressed his face into Kay’s chest, like he could smother the knowledge out of himself. He gasped through a ragged, wet breath, and Kay’s palm was solid in the middle of his back, keeping him there. Cassian’s lip quivered, and he knew he’d made a snotty mess of Kay’s front. He didn’t care. He rested his head on Kay, just a moment longer, promising himself he’d stay until someone told him there wasn’t any more time. Kay had another hand in his hair, combing it into place. Cassian turned so Kay could tuck it behind his ear, pressing his cheek to Kay’s heart.

Kay had a heartbeat.

‘Cassian.’

A fresh round of tears welled up, aching behind his eyes and clutching at his throat. He looked at Kay, and the trails of light from Kay’s eyes seemed to fall in the same pattern.

‘Maybe,’ Kay had to stop, and start again. ‘Maybe this is why you were marked. Not for the Empire.’

His fingers were shaking as they carded Cassian’s hair back.

’This is why you needed a Watcher’ Kay told him. ‘To watch your back as you leave.’

Cassian shook his head sharply.

‘I don’t know how to be without you,’ he murmured, almost choking on the words.

Kay didn’t answer, just flicked under his chin.

Somewhere, in the dark, a death rattle. A hand—a human hand—touched Cassian’s shoulder. Bodhi drew him gently away, wrapping an arm around him.

‘Take care of him,’ Kay said to Bodhi. ‘He’s useless.’

Bodhi nodded, eyes bright with tears. ‘I will.’

‘I’m glad to have met you too, Bodhi.’

‘Maybe I’ll see you,’ there was a question in Bodhi’s tone. ‘From the other side.’

‘Maybe,’ Kay nodded.

But Cassian knew the look in his eyes. That look lingered on Cassian.

‘Have hope,’ Kay told him.

They went through the door, and Kay locked it behind them.


	13. I love you, despite the warning signs.

Cassian fell to his knees in the kitchen. Bodhi was still holding onto him, breaking the worst of the fall. The others were somewhere in the room: Cassian didn’t care. He curled in on himself, shaking, too hurt to make a sound. His hands ached from how hard he clenched them.

‘We’re safe,’ Chirrut said. ‘He succeeded.’

‘They can’t reopen it?’ Jyn asked.

‘Not without human help on this side,’ Baze said.

Cassian heard all of this as if through glass. The only thing that seemed clear was the loose thread in the cuff of Galen Erso’s shirt, which he was still wearing, and the bubbles of varnish around a knothole in the floorboards. He hiccuped. Bodhi stroked his back.

‘Then it’s over?’ Jyn asked. Her feet entered his field of view, and the tap started running. Then she crouched, placing a glass of water beside Cassian’s knee. Her fingers brushed over his.

‘I’m sorry,’ she murmured to him.

‘The tide is still high,’ Chirrut told them. ’Small things will keep bleeding through.’

‘This house will always be haunted,’ Baze said. ‘It will grow hungry again.’

Jyn let out an exhausted breath.

‘How much time did we lose?’ Bodhi asked. His hand continued making circles on the small of Cassian’s back.

The fridge opened, and plastic clicked.

‘Curry still smells good,’ Chirrut declared.

‘You know you don’t need to sniff-test to tell the time,’ Jyn drawled. ‘Whose phone is closest?’

‘Depends whose bedroom is closest,’ Bodhi muttered.

Baze sighed. ‘I’ll go.’

He stepped around Cassian to leave. This was enough to prompt Cassian to move, twisting to one side until he was sitting with his back against the cupboards.

‘Overnight!’ Baze called out. ‘It’s eleven in the morning.’

 _‘Ugh,’_ Bodhi thumped down to sit next to Cassian. ‘I’m gonna end up nocturnal.’

Cassian lay his head on Bodhi’s shoulder. Bodhi nuzzled his hair, which must have been filthy.

‘Chirrut,’ Cassian rubbed his face with his sleeve. ‘Could he—could he have…?’

Chirrut’s mouth formed a grim line. ‘I cannot make promises.’

’It wasn’t in vain,’ Baze told him. ‘The weapon is broken.’

Cassian took the glass of water, watching the surface ripple and jitter. It tasted like sand.

Jyn started rifling through the fridge. ‘If the world’s not going to end, I need to eat.’

Baze and Chirrut agreed. Bodhi helped Cassian up so Jyn could get to the bowls, but Cassian shook his head when she offered him some.

‘I’m,’ he jerked his thumb in the direction of the hall. ‘Gonna.’

‘Sure,’ Jyn gave him a firm nod.

The house wasn’t ten miles long anymore, but it still felt that way. Sun streamed in from the windows: every skirting board and doorframe was crisp and clear. Cassian realised as he put his foot on the third step that he’d learned to tread on the edge, so it wouldn’t squeak. He held the bannister a little tighter.

The office was bright and airy. Motes of dust danced in the air. If Jyn ever got a cat, it would curl up in that patch of sun. He moved the rug back to the middle of the room, pushing the chair snugly to the desk. The books were in their rightful place on the shelves: he straightened the spines. His kit was still a mess in the corner. He tidied it all into the bag, pulling the zipper as far as it would go. He put a screwdriver in his pocket.

Finally, he looped his arms around the crumpled pile of scrap metal in the corner. The prosthetic feet dragged on the floor as Cassian dragged Kay’s empty hull into the bedroom. He was sweating and panting by the time he was finished. His shoulder throbbed. He lowered the hull to sit in the corner of the room. Even propped up, it lolled in a way Kay never had.

Cassian let out a shuddering sigh. He took the screwdriver and unfastened Kay’s chassis. Some of the screws were jammed, his screwdriver scraping across the heads: it had been that long since he’d had reason to open up the chassis. He worked slowly, without letting himself think. When the last screw came loose, he pried the plating free to expose the interior.

Nestled in the middle was the spirit trap. The batteries for the LEDs had long since died: he went back for his kit and wired in a new set. When he hit the switch, they blinked through their startup routine, and settled on yellow.

Empty.

Cassian sat back on his heels. It was bad enough seeing the hull slumping like a marionette: he screwed the plating back into place. When the last screw was snug, the reflectors on the helmet flashed.

Cassian’s breath caught. He stared at the discs Kay had used for eyes, waiting for a hint of recognition, a sardonic glare—anything. The noonday sun filtered through the curtain, and as Cassian moved his head, he saw how the light happened to catch.

He dropped the screwdriver, burying his face in his hands.

 _‘Fuck,’_ he groaned. It was stupid, wishful thinking.

‘It’s hard,’ came a voice from the doorway. ‘Seeing him like that.’

Bodhi approached, offering a hand. Cassian took it, and Bodhi pulled him to his feet.

‘I don’t know what I thought,’ Cassian muttered.

‘You hoped,’ Bodhi shrugged. ‘Nothing wrong with that.’

Cassian bit down on his lip so he wouldn’t argue. Bodhi was still holding his hand.

‘The others have gone to sleep,’ Bodhi said. ‘You don’t want to.’

Cassian realised—his neck prickled at the thought—that Bodhi was right. He imagined sleeping without Kay standing guard, and his stomach dropped. He shook his head.

‘So, I really need a shower,’ Bodhi said. ‘I thought, after that, you might want...’

‘Yeah,’ Cassian nodded quickly. ‘I’ll have one too.’

‘After _that,’_ Bodhi gave him a patient smile. ‘Do you want to get out of here for a bit?’

‘Uh,’ Cassian blinked, until his brain processed the words. ‘You. With you? Where?’

Bodhi snorted softly. ‘Anywhere. Could have a look around the neighbourhood.’

‘Yeah,’ Cassian took a breath in, and let it out. ‘Yeah. That would be nice.’

While Bodhi took first shower, Cassian collected his clothes. He didn’t look back at the hull. It was only a hull.

Bodhi emerged with a towel slung around his shoulders, rubbing his hair dry. One wet lock was threatening to curl: Cassian felt it tug a smile from him.

‘We’ll have to wash some towels,’ Bodhi remarked. ‘Running low.’

It helped, talking about something as ordinary as laundry. Cassian let the thought carry him past the mirror—intact again—and into the water. A headache was starting to pound against his sinuses, and the skin around his eyes was tender. The kinesio tape peeled away from his shoulder: it felt like a lifetime since Kay had so carefully applied it. He breathed steam, letting it loosen the tension in his throat, and grabbed the soap.

Bergamot. He bit back another surge of sadness. It was barely a day ago. He scrubbed the dirt from his skin, until all that remained were a few stains in his cuticles.

Bodhi saved him from returning to the bedroom by meeting him on the landing, handing over Cassian’s phone.

‘Told Jyn we’re going,’ he said.

The front door opened like it had never been broken. Cassian swung it back and forth on the hinges, just to be sure. He followed Bodhi down the uneven flagstones, dodging the rosebush.

Cassian stopped at the van, pulling out his coat. It was unseasonably thick, but he was unseasonably attached to it. He kept his eyes off the empty passenger seat. Bodhi was in a more sensible bomber jacket. His hands were shoved in the pockets as he narrowed his eyes at Rogue Street.

‘D’you know what Krennic’s car looks like?’ he asked.

‘He wouldn’t have brought it,’ Cassian reminded him. ‘He had that alibi about East Anglia.’

‘Right,’ Bodhi snapped his fingers. ‘So he could sacrifice us to demons.’

Cassian chuckled, in spite of himself. Bodhi couldn’t hide a smile. He leaned west and Cassian nodded, falling into step with him. The breeze tossed fallen leaves in their path, and tugged on Bodhi’s hair. A thunderhead plodded over the horizon. They took random turns, down the gradual slope in the general direction of the town. It led them to a park, where they slowed to watch a greyhound rocketing after a tennis ball. Bodhi stepped off the path to crunch a leaf underfoot, ducking his chin and grinning.

Somehow, as they wove between the trees, Bodhi’s hand found its way into Cassian’s. Their fingers interlaced, and warmth flushed through Cassian. His legs still ached from an impossible number of staircases. The cut in his left hand twinged, and he wriggled his fingers to distract himself from it.

Bodhi noticed. ‘We should put a plaster on that.’

Cassian rolled his eyes. ‘This is why Kay says I’m useless. One time, I tried to jump this fence and he...’

His brain caught up with his mouth. He stopped.

‘We don’t have to talk about it,’ Bodhi squeezed his other hand.

Cassian took a deep breath. The air was getting chillier, tinted with ozone.

‘It’s okay,’ he was telling Bodhi as much as himself. ‘It’s… it’s a funny story.’

‘Yeah?’ Bodhi lit up. There was no other way to describe it. Cassian supposed Bodhi had become attached to Kay, in the time they’d known each other.

‘So, before I built the vocabulator…’ Cassian bit back a smile at the memory. ‘We used to use a radio.’

‘A radio?’ Bodhi repeated.

‘Yeah, so it turned out physical stuff like planchettes and pencils was harder. Speaking, though…’ Cassian stopped as the greyhound zoomed past them, its tongue lolling happily. ‘I had a radio, tuned between stations. I told my abuela the white noise made it easier to sleep.’

‘How old were you?’

‘Fourteen, the first time it worked,’ Cassian recalled. ‘He used the demon tongue, and... well, you know what happens when he does that.’

Bodhi winced.

‘He went quiet for months. He didn’t want to hurt me.’

‘That’s sweet,’ Bodhi said.

‘I didn’t know it at the time,’ Cassian explained. ‘I’d sort of guessed. He never _did_ anything to me, except the, you know, paralysis thing. He stopped with that, once I left a note saying I wouldn’t scream. And then he had to let me go, so I could fiddle with the radio for him.’

‘So what about the fence?’ Bodhi prompted.

‘I’m getting to that,’ Cassian grinned. ‘I started taking the radio with me. Sitting outside and talking to him, testing our range, that kind of thing.’

‘Very scientific,’ Bodhi agreed.

‘A year into that, I had him hooked up to a walkman,’ Cassian said. ‘I took it with me when I started sneaking out.’

‘Sneaking out for what?’

Cassian cocked his head. ‘There was a boy.’

‘Oh, there was a _boy,’_ Bodhi grinned.

‘And he lived in this house with a spiked iron fence,’ Cassian said very quickly. ‘Which I thought I’d be able to climb.’

‘Oh, no.’

‘Kay kept telling me I was being an idiot,’ Cassian said. ‘He threatened to still me if I tried it.’

‘Why didn’t he?’

‘I threw the walkman between the railings,’ Cassian snorted at the memory. ‘So I had to cross the fence if he wanted me to get it back.’

‘That’s…’ Bodhi looked up at the sky for a moment. ‘That was really stupid.’

‘Yep,’ Cassian agreed. ‘But I _did_ get to see the boy.’

‘That’s not so bad…?’ Bodhi wrinkled his nose in sympathy.

Cassian stopped, pulling up the cuff of his jeans. The thick white scar still stretched across his calf.

’The way back was the problem,’ he explained. ’Ripped my tendon and needed thirteen stitches.’

‘Shit,’ Bodhi twisted his head to admire it. ‘Yeah, he mustn’t have been pleased.’

‘He was furious,’ Cassian said. ‘Also, he looks really scary under hospital light.’

‘Even as a…’ Bodhi narrowed his eyes. ‘How did you describe him?’

‘A silhouette,’ Cassian drew a figure with his hand. It had a passing resemblance to the proportions of the hull. ’Head, shoulders, the eyes.’

Bodhi nodded. The park opened up to a strip of shops, and they wandered slowly.

‘Were you still scared of him?’

‘I think I believed he was still planning to possess me,’ Cassian gestured at his leg. ‘I’d damaged the goods.’

‘What convinced you otherwise?’

Cassian laughed. ‘Okay, this is silly.’

‘Good,’ Bodhi pulled his hand, bumping their shoulders together.

‘When I was stuck with the scar healing,’ Cassian bit his lip. ‘He got really into telenovelas.’

Bodhi gave him a wide-eyed stare, figuring out if Cassian was fucking with him. Cassian’s shoulders shook, and finally Bodhi burst into laughter.

‘I used to ask him, _why are you here, what do you want with me?’_ Cassian said. ‘He’d say, _I have to watch you. Just in case._ He started explaining the Empire, after that time with the fence. I’d always been asking him, why _me?_ It took me so long before I thought to ask: why _you?’_

‘What did he say?’ Bodhi almost tripped on a doorstop, he was focused so intensely on Cassian.

Cassian sighed, keeping hold of Bodhi’s hand while he regained his balance. ‘Travel opportunities.’

‘Sorry,’ Bodhi frowned. ‘Travel opportunities?’

Cassian shrugged. ‘He’d never seen our world. He likes it; he likes our stories. A low-ranking job surveilling a useless kid: he figured he could slip away.’

‘So you helped him,’ Bodhi realised.

‘I made the vocabulator in university,’ Cassian recalled. ‘Then we worked on the trap together, so he had an anchor in this world.’

The further he got from the house, the more the knot in his chest unraveled. It was a story he had never told. He kept going for as long as Bodhi kept asking, until Bodhi confessed he was starving and they stopped for doner and chips.

The thunderhead blew in, and a drizzle began. They walked back by a different route, weaving through quiet suburban streets with only a vague sense of direction. Cassian offered Bodhi his coat, and Bodhi shrugged.

‘My hair’s already wet,’ he said, turning his face up to catch the raindrops.

Cassian left the hood around his shoulders. He watched the pavement grow speckled with water. Wind shook the trees, the chill of it prickling his cheeks. The streets were empty as the rain chased people indoors. Only the leaves whirled and skittered in circles around them. Cassian pulled Bodhi’s hand inside his coat sleeve to keep it warm.

The overcast sky brought the evening in early. They wandered for so long that Cassian was about to ask if Bodhi had any idea where they were. Then he saw it: the yew tree at the corner of Rogue Street.

‘Hmm,’ Bodhi cocked his head. ‘I never thought about it.’

‘About what?’ Cassian asked.

‘It’s a crossroads,’ Bodhi said. The wind snagged and snarled through his hair.

That first afternoon, the sun had thrown deep shadows across the street. Tonight, the house was grey against grey, huddled between sheets of rain and warping with the swaying trees. The storm had untangled the rosebushes across the flagstones. Thunder drowned out the groan of the porch steps, and a spider scrambled to safety inside one of the iron lights.

The front door opened without a sound.

They shed their jackets and shoes. Light spilled into the hall from the kitchen, along with the smell of soup. The moment they arrived they were designated vegetables for Cassian to peel and Bodhi to chop. Baze stirred the pot while Chirrut regaled them with tales of ghost hunts past. Jyn flicked through one of her father’s art books. Rain spattered on the windows. Every so often, Cassian glanced over, just to be sure the water hadn’t started running up the glass.

He was tired to the edges of his being. He’d do anything not to sleep.

After dinner, Jyn finally got her Netflix set up on the television in the lounge room. Cassian squinted at the idiotic action movie from the comfy spot he’d found on Bodhi’s shoulder. Jyn put her fuzzy-socked feet on his lap, and Cassian must have dozed, because Bodhi’s arm was around him when the credits rolled. He took a deep breath and buried his face in Bodhi’s chest before exhaling. Bodhi nosed his hair, lips brushing his forehead.

‘Tired?’ he murmured. Cassian nodded.

‘You want wards?’ Baze offered. ‘There’s still mischief around.’

‘I think we can handle a little mischief,’ Bodhi told him. The way his fingertips pressed Cassian’s arm said he knew: they couldn’t pass on the chance of one particular mischief-maker appearing.

It took the last of his strength to plod upstairs. He brushed his teeth with less energy than a zombie, and when something moved in the bathroom mirror, he glared at it until it stopped. Bodhi met him at the bedroom door, taking both his hands.

‘I know it’s probably not the right moment,’ Bodhi murmured. ‘But if you wanted a distraction…’

Cassian kissed his cheek. Bodhi turned toward it, and the kiss hung as fragile as a cobweb, then Bodhi was holding him by the hips, steering him to the wall. Cassian needed the solid surface, as much as he needed Bodhi filling his senses. It wasn’t the same desperate heat-of-the-moment kiss as the first, but it was just as consuming. Bodhi never gave him quite enough time to breathe, and that kept him from overthinking it, and that made it perfect.

They stumbled back in the dark. Cassian’s ankles hit the mattress and he reeled, but Bodhi kept a hand on his back, and lowered him down. Cassian clung, for selfish reasons, to Bodhi’s upper arm as it took Cassian’s weight. It ended with Cassian sprawled on the mattress and Bodhi crouched over him. Bodhi flicked their noses together, slotting a knee between Cassian’s thighs. Cassian arched his back to get a kiss, and Bodhi planted his elbows on either side of Cassian’s head.

‘I am,’ he spoke against Cassian’s lips, ‘Bone-tired.’

Cassian closed his eyes reluctantly, and nodded in agreement.

‘But I’d like to keep doing this,’ Bodhi emphasised this with a hint of pressure on Cassian’s thigh, ‘When we’re not.’

Cassian reached up, fingers hooking in the neckline of Bodhi’s shirt where it hung between them. He used it to drag Bodhi closer, until they were pressed together, the string of kisses deepening as Cassian’s tongue slipped into Bodhi’s mouth. Bodhi whimpered, rolling them to one side, and made a clumsy attempt at getting the covers over them without breaking away from the kiss. He grinned against Cassian’s mouth, nuzzling him until he relented, and tucked them in properly.

Cassian couldn’t help but look. The stars left enough light to reveal the crumpled shape in the corner. It made no sound, no movement. Bodhi didn’t turn him away from it, but he kept a firm hold on Cassian’s arm, thumb tracing back and forth until Cassian’s concentration broke. Tears stung the corner of his eyes and grief clenched his windpipe. He hadn’t slept without Kay with him for twenty years. He wasn’t sure he could. But his body held greater weight on the matter than his heart did, and as he slowed his breathing to match Bodhi’s, he found himself slipping under.

*

He woke up screaming. It was mute, caught in a huff of strangled breath as the sound tried to fight its way into the back of his mouth. He clawed the blankets away, ears ringing in the absence of sound. The air had cooled enough that a gulp of it brought him back to the world.

Bodhi stirred beside him. ‘You okay?’

‘Bad dream,’ Cassian said.

‘Haunted house,’ Bodhi answered. He fumbled along his side of the bed for his water bottle, handing it to Cassian.

The chill loosened his throat. His heart was going too fast for him to sleep. He crawled up the bed and sat with his back against the wall, taking another swig of water.

‘What was it about?’ Bodhi shuffled to sit beside him.

The details were slipping through his grasp before he could recall it. ‘It’s gone.’

‘I’ve had nightmares every night here,’ Bodhi took the water bottle back, sipping from it. ‘You haven’t?’

‘I don’t really get them,’ Cassian admitted. His knee bumped against Bodhi’s.

‘Why do you think that is?’ Bodhi asked.

Cassian looked at him. There was enough glow left in the stars to catch in Bodhi’s eyes. They were so dark, he could drown.

‘No,’ Cassian shook his head. ‘That’s not it.’

‘Maybe it was being in the Yonder, then,’ Bodhi says. ‘You’re getting a sense for it.’

‘I’m _not,’_ Cassian scowled. But he didn’t pull away from Bodhi.

‘You led us back to the house, earlier.’

‘That’s just having a sense of direction.’

Bodhi rested his head on Cassian’s shoulder, like he could appease Cassian with affection. It was working.

‘Do you want to try and get more sleep?’ Bodhi offered.

‘No,’ Cassian sighed. The feeling of the nightmare, if not the details, still lurked in the corners of his consciousness. ‘You don’t have to stay up, though.’

Bodhi tucked his face right into the crook of Cassian’s neck. His breath sent a shiver through Cassian. ‘I’m awake now.’

‘So what about you?’ Cassian brushed his lips over Bodhi’s temple. ‘Do you feel anything?’

Bodhi took a thoughtful breath, and exhaled. ‘Right now, it’s like… you know when a fridge starts humming?’

Cassian nodded. He tried to listen. ‘Nothing.’

Bodhi wasn’t making it any easier to concentrate, mouthing softly at Cassian’s throat.

‘Still nothing?’ Bodhi’s grin tickled. Cassian hunched away from it, tugging on Bodhi’s arm. Bodhi elbowed him playfully, and they wrestled in the dark, until Cassian’s head was in Bodhi’s lap. Bodhi trailed a finger over the lines on Cassian’s open palm. A quiet set in as they caught their breath.

Bodhi’s eyes glinted as his gaze shifted around the room. They lingered in the corner where the ivy had first started to grow. Cassian peered at it, but it looked the same as usual. He closed his eyes and tried to listen for the sound of a fridge. He caught an intermittent pattering of rain through the trees outside, and nothing else.

Bodhi yawned, fingers tapping out an idle rhythm on Cassian’s skin. His thigh tensed under Cassian’s head as he stretched one leg then the other. Cassian rolled his neck until it clicked, then settled back down. For once, the house was still.

There was a whirring. Something went _blip._

Two eyes flashed in the dark.


	14. My only crime was that I was down to clown.

Cassian couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe, so he couldn’t find the air to form words. That’s why it was Bodhi who spoke first.

‘Kay?’

‘Ugh,’ the voice was tinny. Had it always been tinny? ‘We’re making some adjustments to this hull.’

‘Kay!’ Cassian lurched out of the bed, crashing into the pile of machinery that was beginning to stir. He straddled one of Kay’s legs, checking the joints were secured to the chassis as Kay’s head lifted.

‘Cassian?’ Kay’s limbs moved sluggishly, the hand creaking as it rested on Cassian’s hip.

 _‘Kay,’_ Cassian choked, grabbing Kay’s helmet and pressing his forehead to it. Kay’s hands were moving with more dexterity, checking Cassian over. The hip he’d grazed on the stairs; the shoulder hit with a tin of paint. Then Kay took his left hand, opening it carefully. Metal fingers traced the cut left by a claw. Cassian shivered.

‘You’re safe,’ Kay said.

‘Are you?’ Cassian murmured. When he closed his eyes, he could almost feel it: the texture of metal, and a curving talon. Under the aluminium thigh, coiled muscle.

Kay’s shoulders drew tight, then relaxed. ‘I am now.’

‘How did you get away?’ Bodhi crawled over to sit beside them.

‘Gave him the slip,’ Kay shrugged.

‘You _gave him the slip,’_ Cassian repeated, deadpan.

‘There was a blunderbuss involved,’ Kay admitted.

Bodhi laughed, and Kay reached for him with the hand that wasn’t in Cassian’s.

‘I thought I lost you,’ Cassian’s breath fogged the helmet, he was so close.

‘How long has it been?’ Kay asked.

‘A day and a night,’ Bodhi told him. ‘How long was it for you?’

‘Longer,’ Kay answered. He looked away, and for a moment Cassian would swear a wisp of phosphor followed.

‘You don’t ever,’ Cassian’s voice shook, _‘Ever_ leave me again.’

‘Did you have nightmares?’ Kay tilted his head in concern.

‘Oh, you bastard,’ Cassian wiped tears from his lashes. ‘Cabrón puntiagudo.’

Something curled around Cassian’s lower back. It wasn’t either of Kay’s arms. He glanced at Bodhi, who held up both his hands.

‘You feel it now, don’t you?’ Bodhi gave him an odd smile.

Cassian reached up to Kay’s head. It was easier when he didn’t look directly. There, barely thicker than smoke, was a ridged texture. It was nothing like the polished surface of Kay’s helmet. A horn.

‘Oh,’ he breathed. _‘Oh.’_

‘Bodhi,’ Kay shifted. ‘Come here.’

Bodhi shuffled closer. His fingers gripped Cassian’s shoulder, and he nosed Cassian’s cheek.

‘There,’ Kay’s knuckles trailed over Cassian’s throat, tilting his chin up. ‘Open your eyes.’

Cassian blinked: it was like double exposure. The glow of Kay’s eyes and the pattern of the reflectors. A mirage of wings, the bent one mended with a fine chain strung between its points. Looping around Cassian’s waist, holding him close: a pointed tail.

‘How...?’ Cassian gaped. ‘I can _see_ you.’

‘You have a frame of reference now,’ Kay said. ‘And Bodhi’s helping.’

Bodhi made a thoughtful noise at this revelation.

‘A vessel isn’t just a parking space for demons,’ Kay told Bodhi. ‘It has its perks.’

‘So if I…’ Bodhi withdrew his touch from Cassian. Cassian scowled, and Kay’s demonic form became a sketch in the air, an after-image behind his eyelids.

‘Come back,’ Cassian whined.

‘I thought you liked being scientific,’ Bodhi snorted.

Cassian narrowed his eyes at Bodhi, but Bodhi kept out of reach, scooting back to the bed. Underneath him, Kay started to pick himself up.

‘Are your joints working?’ Cassian climbed off Kay’s leg. ‘Do you need—?’

He was cut short by Kay scooping him up. He had to fling his arms around Kay’s neck to hang on: Kay’s tail tightened to secure him. Kay carried him to the bed with the same steady strength he’d always had, and the engineer in Cassian was distracted by theories of metaphysical weight compensation. That train of thought was derailed by Kay lowering him onto the mattress. Cassian kept clinging as Kay set him down.

‘Stay,’ he murmured. His fingers fit in the notches of Kay’s spine.

Kay angled his head. A question. Cassian held his gaze. An answer.

It was Kay who reached out first, bringing Bodhi closer. Bodhi nestled against Cassian’s side, and as Bodhi cupped Cassian’s cheek, Kay grew more vivid, more tactile. Cassian let out a breath of wonder, and Bodhi caught it in his mouth, pulling Cassian into another kiss. They were almost becoming familiar now, Bodhi’s kisses, but this one had Kay still towering over him, tail nudging Cassian and Bodhi closer together.

‘Is this what you meant?’ Cassian murmured, playing with a lock of Bodhi’s hair. ‘Both of us?’

Bodhi nodded.

‘So you two really never…?’ his brow crinkled in disbelief.

’No?’ Cassian bit his lip.

‘Not _really,’_ Kay admitted.

‘He was just… there,’ Cassian said.

‘Watching,’ Bodhi inferred.

‘It sounds weird when you put it like that,’ Cassian wrinkled his nose.

‘It _was_ weird,’ Kay said.

‘I’m okay with weird,’ Bodhi said. ‘If you are.’

Kay looked at Cassian. He kept him in that unbreakable stare, trusting and patient, as metal-claw fingers slid down Cassian’s chest, skating over his belly. Then, an echo of a moment in the bathroom that felt like years ago, two fingers hooking in his waistband.

At first, he thought the sound was Kay’s processors in overdrive again. Now, though Cassian could hear a rumbling deeper than that: a growl in Kay’s chest. Cassian was getting hard: he had been since Kay picked him up like he weighed nothing.

He swallowed, and nodded at Kay. Kay blinked, a flicker of phosphor as he followed the groove of Cassian’s hip. Cassian arched into the touch.

‘Can I…?’ Cassian cupped Kay’s jaw. ‘Is it okay if I kiss you?’

There was a hint of teeth, a fond grin. Cassian had never seen him smile. ‘It’ll be easier if you close your eyes.’

For a moment he hesitated, unable to keep from imagining the awkwardly smooth surface of the helmet. But it was something far softer that met his lips. Not quite human: a firmer texture, but a similar shape. More solid, with the help of Bodhi’s hand on his skin, rucking his shirt up. Kay was cautious until Cassian’s lips parted. Then it was a furnace of hot breath and forked tongue, the prickle of fangs on Cassian’s lip, and Cassian groaned, gripping Kay’s horns and bucking his hips.

Kay was fighting with Cassian’s shirt as well, and he broke the kiss long enough to pull it over Cassian’s head. Before Cassian was free of the sleeves, Kay was kissing Bodhi. Nothing in Cassian’s history of fumbling, frequently-supervised sexual encounters could have prepared him for the sight of it. His cock throbbed, and Kay’s tail tightened compulsively around his waist.

Kay undressed Bodhi with a lot more care than he’d shown Cassian. Cassian grinned to himself. When Bodhi’s shirt was off, Cassian dragged his fingers through the hair on Bodhi’s chest, watching how it made him writhe. Kay’s hands followed Cassian’s, claws leaving slight indentations in Bodhi’s skin. Bodhi bit back a purr, lashes fluttering. Kay kept his movements aligned with Cassian’s, exploring the straining tendon in Bodhi’s throat, the sensitivity of his nipples, the definition in his abdomen. Bodhi raked his hair out of his face. As he briefly let go of Cassian, Kay was still visible, both of his hands on Bodhi but his tail hooking to keep Cassian close. It was like Kay had said: now Cassian knew where to look, _how_ to look, the true version of Kay was there. Cassian propped himself on an elbow, content to watch how Kay cupped Bodhi’s cock through his briefs, and the noise that elicited from Bodhi. But Bodhi started fumbling in Cassian’s direction, and Kay took the hint as well.

Kay found the crook of Cassian’s neck, the sensitive spot over his pulse point, and grazed fangs across it. A flick of Kay’s tongue, two points curling together, and Cassian was a wreck. Bodhi seized his mouth in a kiss, while Kay dragged his pyjamas down. Cassian kicked them the rest of the way off, then Kay was holding his thighs open with an easy strength that made Cassian’s cock twitch. Bodhi touched him first, delicate fingers stroking along the shaft. Then Bodhi’s hand was gone long enough for Cassian to whimper a complaint, before Bodhi returned with Kay as well.

 _‘Fuck,’_ Cassian gasped. They stroked him in tandem, fingers curling and tangling, and Cassian couldn’t do anything besides cling to them, shuddering, nosing urgently for kisses from any mouth he could find.

‘Wait,’ he choked, in the spare second one of them let him gasp for air. He willed his hips to stop rocking, biting hard on the inside of his cheek to stay focused. ‘Not yet, not yet, I want…’

Bodhi went still, while Kay decided to scrape his claws over Cassian’s thigh. It didn’t take the edge off in the slightest: Cassian thumped Kay’s chest until he stopped.

‘What do you want, Cassian?’ Kay asked, with infuriating patience.

It was hard to focus, let alone when Bodhi was stroking curiously down the ridge of Kay’s spine.

‘I want to watch you,’ Cassian could barely get the words out. Bodhi opened his mouth to protest, and Cassian amended: ‘For now.’

Bodhi mouthed _for now,_ smirking. His eyelashes were ink-black as he glanced down, noticing how Cassian gripped the base of his own cock, keeping his arousal banked. Kay’s tail slid down the small of Cassian’s back, the point nestling in the cleft of his ass, and Cassian hissed at the pleasure it provoked. Kay pretended not to notice, arching over Bodhi. Judging by the way Bodhi moaned, Kay’s claws bit deeper this time. Bodhi wrapped his legs around Kay’s middle, pulling Kay closer. Suddenly, his whimper cut short, his eyes as big as saucers.

‘Oh my god,’ he couldn’t seem to close his mouth. ‘Is that…?’

Kay sat up slightly, and Bodhi angled his hips to keep them locked together. ‘Yes.’

Cassian knew Kay’s tone when he didn’t want to admit to something.

‘Is that _what?’_ he wriggled closer to the pair.

‘Show him,’ Bodhi said.

Kay sighed, patting Bodhi’s thigh. Bodhi sprawled, so Kay could sit back on his heels and unfasten something at his waist.

‘Wait, that’s clothes?’ Cassian frowned.

‘This is leather,’ Kay protested. ‘It’s not _part_ of me.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ Cassian said. ‘You were always so forthcoming about the details of your anatomy.’

‘I’m not an animal’, Kay was reproachful.

Kay moved with practiced hands, freeing buckles and straps. Cassian struggled to follow in the dim light, how some fastened to piercings in Kay’s skin. He lost track entirely when Kay dropped the armour to one side. There were bigger things to think about.

‘Oh my god,’ he echoed Bodhi.

The size of it was the first thing. It was almost the diameter of Cassian’s forearm. Then there were the ridges, the contours, and the ladder of metal studs pierced through the underside.

Cassian’s mouth went dry. His heart pummelled the inside of his ribcage. His cock leaked a pulse of fluid without being touched.

Kay gave a sarcastic wave of his hand: _ta-da._ The glimpse of his ordinary metal fingers surprised Cassian out of his trance.

‘You’ve been walking around with _that,’_ Cassian breathed. ‘This _entire_ time?’

 _‘I_ never saw it,’ Bodhi almost sounded resentful.

‘Would you be more comfortable if I put it away?’ Kay offered.

Both of them said ‘No!’ far too quickly. Kay huffed, and Bodhi propped himself up to reach for Kay. He started at Kay’s hips, watching Kay’s face the whole time his hand moved. Kay kept still, save for his swishing tail and a pinch of anxiety in his shoulders. Cassian moved in, taking one of Kay’s hands and kissing the palm. He curled his tongue around Kay’s finger as Bodhi started caressing Kay’s cock. It unraveled the tension in Kay: he sank forward as Bodhi’s touches grew more confident. Kay gripped Cassian’s face in a gentle hold, so Cassian wouldn’t choke on the finger in his mouth. Cassian licked—the tang of metal was getting milder—and he hollowed his cheeks to suck on it. Gradually, the claw retracted: Cassian’s hips jerked at the thought of all the places a retractable claw could go. He mouthed Kay’s hand, a mess of teeth and tongue, until Kay rubbed his thumb over Cassian’s flushed lips. Cassian chased after Kay’s withdrawing fingers, then yelped in surprise when Kay’s tail swatted his thigh.

Kay inclined his head, directing Cassian’s attention back to Bodhi. Bodhi, whose lip was trapped between his teeth, pupils swallowing his irises as he jerked Kay’s cock with both hands, hips rolling on the bed and briefs tenting. Cassian nestled up to Bodhi’s side, tugging down the waistband of Bodhi’s underwear. Bodhi stole a gasping, sloppy kiss from Cassian. He writhed as they tried to get his briefs off, Kay holding one of his ankles hostage until Bodhi finished kicking free of his briefs. His cock was hard and straining toward his belly when they finally freed it. Cassian palmed it, a firm motion that had Bodhi whining and wriggling helplessly in Kay’s grasp.

‘Here,’ Kay said, and the light behind his teeth revealed a pointed smile. He lay himself along Bodhi’s front, and the hand still slick from Cassian’s mouth slid between them. Kay wrapped it around his own shaft and Bodhi’s, stroking them together. Bodhi whimpered, thighs clamping around Kay’s waist. Cassian could imagine how the ridges and studs of Kay’s cock would feel as Kay thrust against Bodhi’s belly.

‘Cassian,’ Kay growled. ‘Put a finger in him.’

‘Oh, _fuck_ yes,’ Bodhi babbled, grabbing Cassian’s wrist insistently.

It took Cassian a moment to figure out an angle: Kay’s tail coiling around his forearm and tugging him closer was mostly unhelpful. He ended up lying on his side, halfway down their bodies so his elbow could crook between Kay’s legs. He suckled one finger, getting it as slick as he could, and swiped it though the beading precome of his own cock. He had to bite back a groan at the brief touch. It took all his willpower to leave himself aching and flushed without anything more. He reached down, tickling over the peach-fuzz of Bodhi’s thighs, teasing the sensitive skin as Bodhi rocked back in search of him. Bodhi growled, grabbing Cassian’s hair and pulling, until Cassian circled his rim with a fingertip and nudged his way inside.

Bodhi tugged Cassian’s hair so it stung, and Cassian buried a moan in Bodhi’s flank. He rubbed and circled his finger, learning how to make Bodhi buck insistently into Kay. He could smell the two of them, his face pressed where their bodies met, sweat and metal and sex. Kay’s tail was tracing a switching, thoughtless pattern up and down Cassian’s back, the frill of spines making Cassian quiver. He thrust the finger a little quicker into Bodhi, and Bodhi cupped the back of his skull in answer, dragging him as close as he could get. There was a risk of getting smacked in the face by Kay’s hipbone as it ground into Bodhi: Cassian nuzzled in anyway. Bodhi clamped around his finger, digging hard into Cassian’s scalp. His whines pitched higher, faster, until his abdomen went taut under Cassian’s cheek and he whimpered as he came. Kay kept stroking him through it, still hard, fucking into the mess on Bodhi’s belly. Cassian flicked his tongue out to catch a taste. Bodhi tensed and quaked through aftershocks, barely making a sound, and finally his thigh collapsed at an angle that pulled Cassian out of him. Bodhi unleashed a squeak of surprise at his own actions, scratching Cassian’s hair and gasping for breath.

Kay raised his hips, letting Bodhi get some air. That was all the opportunity Cassian needed: he pounced. Kay tumbled to one side, and Cassian spared a moment of worry for Kay’s spikes on the mattress. Apparently Kay wasn’t _that_ tangible, or the duvet was thicker than Cassian remembered. He grabbed Kay’s cock and swiped his tongue from the root to the tip, sliding over every divot and rise he found along the way. He licked the head, kissing and nuzzling, as Kay placed a hesitant hand on the back of his neck. The head of Kay’s cock almost, just about, with a lot of effort, fit in his mouth. Cassian relished the ache in his jaw, unable to hold back a muffled groan at the strange, tingling taste at Kay’s slit.

‘Cassian,’ Bodhi’s voice shook with laughter. ‘It’s not gonna fit.’

Cassian pulled off with a _pop_ that made his cheeks heat up.

‘You better come and help me, then,’ he said.

He spared a glance at Kay’s face. It took a moment for Cassian to interpret his expression: Kay was transfixed. He hardly seemed to believe that Bodhi was sliding down the bed to position himself at Cassian’s side. His hand was tender on the back of Cassian’s neck, claws blunt and retracted. Cassian kept watching as he kissed the tip of Kay’s cock, and Kay’s eyes _burned._

Then Bodhi was joining in, kissing Cassian before dragging his lips over Kay’s cock. Cassian found a groove that fit his lower lip, and Bodhi braced a hand around the shaft. Cassian nibbled on a stud and Kay made a noise Cassian had never heard before. Kay’s claws slipped out, pinpricks around Cassian’s spine, and Cassian moaned. Kay must have felt the vibration of it, surging up into Cassian’s mouth. Bodhi pumped him, licking and sucking the contours of Kay’s cock, while Cassian laved at the head. He reached down to touch himself, stroking quickly.

The growl began deep inside Kay: Cassian felt it before he heard it. Kay tapped a warning finger at the base of Cassian’s skull, and Cassian ignored it. He shoved as much of the head as he could in his mouth, sucking. Bodhi doubled down, hand quickening and his tongue rolling over the shaft. Kay shuddered and pulsed, and Cassian barely managed to swallow before choking. His own orgasm followed swiftly, hips jerking as he savoured the taste of Kay. Kay dragged him away by his hair and let Bodhi sweep in to clean up the last of it.

‘Oh,’ Kay said thickly. Cassian took his hand and Kay gave it a weak squeeze.

‘That was…’ Bodhi lay his head on Kay’s thigh. ‘Substantial.’

‘I may have overreached myself,’ Kay sprawled, half-off the bed. ‘Manifesting is hard.’

Bodhi snorted.

‘Next time, I’m taking samples,’ Cassian wiped his cheek with a grin.

‘You will _not,’_ Kay’s tail smacked him.

‘You gonna be okay?’ Cassian crawled into Kay’s arms. The sensation of skin and muscle was already fading into the smooth surface of the hull.

‘If I rest,’ Kay sighed.

Bodhi crawled around the foot of the bed, finding a shirt and cleaning them up as best he could. Then he settled in behind Cassian, moulding himself warm and naked against Cassian’s back. Kay reached an arm around to hold onto Bodhi: they were hugging around Cassian. He wriggled himself deeper into the embrace, face buried in the crook of Kay’s neck.

‘You’ll stay?’ Cassian mumbled.

‘I can watch you from here,’ Kay assured him.

Bodhi placed a kiss on the back of Cassian’s neck, and this time, Cassian slept better.

*

Cassian woke with his face glued to Kay’s chassis. He groaned, un-peeling it and wiping drool off his chin. He had a small heart attack before Kay moved. Kay lifted his arm to give Cassian some space. Bodhi was still curled tightly against Cassian’s back, breathing slowly into Cassian’s skin.

Cassian leaned up to look at Kay. They had a conversation without words, without waking Bodhi. Yes, this was weird. Good-weird? Good-weird. Yes, they were going to do this again. No, it hadn’t been like this all the other times. Okay, maybe a bit, that one time. And that other time, but Cassian had _known_ Kay was looking. And Bodhi? They were going to keep Bodhi as long as they possibly could.

‘Are you two like this _all_ the time?’ Bodhi mumbled into Cassian’s neck. Cassian felt him smile.

‘Yes,’ Kay answered.

As much as Cassian enjoyed being sandwiched, Kay was still very much eighty kilograms of solid metal. The mattress was struggling, Cassian stank of stale sex, Bodhi was overdue for announcing he was hungry. A shower later, Cassian was bounding down the stairs, slapping the plaster in answer to the knocking inside the walls. The kitchen had remained stubbornly on the east side since yesterday, so it was full of sunshine. So was Chirrut.

‘Kay’s back,’ Cassian told them, setting the kettle to boil.

‘Does that explain the mysterious noises we all heard at two in the morning?’ Jyn glared at him.

Cassian winced. ‘Sorry.’

Baze shut the cupboards in resignation. ‘That beast really did eat the blender.’

Jyn pouted apologetically.

‘Pancakes?’ Cassian offered.

‘Sounds fantastic,’ Chirrut said. Cassian hunted through the cupboards for ingredients. He grinned when he found Galen bought proper Canadian syrup.

‘Do you cook every single morning?’ Jyn frowned, while he cracked eggs into a bowl.

‘I’m not paying rent,’ Cassian pointed out.

The final pancake was flipped before Bodhi and Kay sidled in together. They could not have looked more like two people who’d had sex if they were still naked.

‘Speaking of rent,’ Jyn cut in before anyone could comment. ‘I need to figure out what to do with the place.’

‘What do you want to do with it?’ Baze asked her.

‘I can’t sell it,’ she shook her head. ‘Or rent it out, knowing what’s happened to everyone who lived here.’

‘I don’t think the house will take it well if you tear it down,’ Bodhi dumped blueberries on his pancake.

‘No,’ Jyn agreed. ‘Is there a way to lift the curse on it?’

‘The house _is_ a curse,’ Bodhi recalled the words he’d spoken in the basement. A chill went down Cassian’s spine.

Chirrut sighed. ‘You have the advantage of time. Its power is already waning.’

‘The Empire were able to manipulate that power,’ Cassian pointed out. ‘Could we?’

‘Not forever,’ Chirrut said. ‘That’s the nature of the balance.’

‘It’s entirely possible the house has got its claws in me, if I’m even considering this. But someone needs to watch over it,’ Jyn said. ‘It was left to me: it should be me.’

‘You cannot do it alone,’ Baze said. ‘The house would take you too.’

‘The house always wins,’ Bodhi mused. ‘Is that it?’

‘Well,’ Jyn held her breath for a moment. ‘What if I had help?’

‘Are you asking us to stay?’ Chirrut grinned.

‘Could five of us do it?’ Jyn asked. Looking at Kay, she amended: ‘Six?’

‘For a lifetime?’ Kay shook his head thoughtfully. ‘Maybe.’

‘What if we guard it?’ Jyn insisted. ‘We could hold it off, until the next person can.’

‘We’ll help,’ Baze said. ‘At least until the London office calls us back.’

 _‘If_ the London office ever calls us back,’ Chirrut added.

Bodhi gave a little shrug. ‘I’m at the end of my lease.’

He was looking at Cassian when he said it. Cassian swallowed as much pancake as he could.

‘You’ll need Kay,’ he said, thumping his chest with his fist.

‘And _you,’_ Jyn rolled her eyes. _‘Nottinghamshire Hauntings.’_

‘I’m deleting that fucking webpage,’ Cassian muttered.

Bodhi elbowed him. ‘Especially you.’

‘Okay,’ Cassian said. ‘I mean, yes. I could.’

‘We will,’ Kay decided for him. A shimmer of his eye said he knew the other reason: if they stayed, Cassian could see him. Cassian could touch him.

Bodhi’s arm slid around Cassian’s waist. Cassian kissed his hair to hide a smile.

‘That just leaves the other problem,’ Kay said.

They turned to him in collective horror.

‘The mirror glyphs,’ Kay explained. ‘They’ll need to be destroyed.’

‘The developments Galen worked on?’ Bodhi asked.

‘All across Nottinghamshire?’ Cassian remembered.

‘Each will be rotten with demons,’ Baze warned them.

‘We’d have to destroy them all if we want to stop the Empire permanently,’ Chirrut said.

‘Alright,’ Jyn slapped her hands on the table. ‘Who wants to do some fucking property damage?’


	15. Epilogue: That’s a crazy idea. Insane. It doesn’t make sense. ‘You’ll do it?’ ‘Of course,’ I replied.

The screaming wouldn’t stop.

Cassian lay his face on the kitchen table and groaned. Bodhi, for want of anything else to do, was making tea. Baze chalked another ward next to the door, just to be sure. Jyn vindictively tore apart a roast chicken, while Chirrut seemed happily engrossed in one of the books he’d brought up from London last week.

In the half-light of evening, Cassian could just about catch the flicker of Kay’s tail switching back and forth in irritation.

‘I still think he’s speaking Hungarian,’ Bodhi said.

‘Do you speak it?’ Jyn asked.

’No; my old neighbours did,’ Bodhi rolled his eyes. ‘Thin walls and a lot of shouting matches.’

‘Could you call them?’ Jyn wrinkled her nose.

‘We weren’t close,’ Bodhi sighed, scrolling through his phone.

The spirits of Rogue Street had mostly settled into a fragile truce since the aversion of the cataclysm. Apparently, an enraged Hungarian in the hallway had made no such agreement.

‘Is there _some_ way we can ask him what he wants?’ Jyn scowled.

‘Kay?’ Cassian jiggled his hand.

Kay went and tapped on the kitchen door. The tip of a jet-black sword burst through the wood, and Kay stepped delicately to one side of it. He asked a question.

‘Kay speaks Hungarian?’ Bodhi whispered.

‘Kay speaks everything,’ Cassian whispered back.

A muffled tirade came from the other side of the door.

‘He wants vengeance,’ Kay translated.

‘Who _is_ he?’ Cassian asked.

‘You summoned the spirit of Tarre Vizsla,’ Kay reminded them. ‘It would seem he has arrived.’

‘He’s running a bit late,’ Chirrut said.

‘Time is unscrambling as you destroy the glyphs,’ Kay shrugged.

After two weeks of digging up fence posts and covertly relocating them one foot north to disrupt a sigil, Cassian was exhausted. He longed for the simpler jobs, where all it took was sabotaging a water main so a cursed hallway collapsed when the _Escape to the Country_ crew tried to shoot an episode in it. Jyn had taken to arson with frightening enthusiasm.

‘If we climbed out the window…’ Cassian wrinkled his nose at how bad the idea sounded.

‘I think it’s time we called an exorcist,’ Chirrut said.

‘Aren’t you two exorcists?’ Jyn frowned.

‘Guardians,’ Baze said. ‘This needs a specialist.’

‘There’s this guy,’ Bodhi held up his phone. It was a Gumtree listing.

‘Not one of them,’ Baze muttered. ‘They’re cultists.’

Jyn squinted at the text. ‘They’re not a cult. My best mate Hera’s housemate is one.’

‘Would you know if she was in a cult?’ Chirrut raised his eyebrows.

‘She’s normal,’ Jyn shrugged. ‘I went to her art show last year.’

‘You probably don’t _want_ normal,’ Kay said. ‘How would _normal_ deal with this?’

‘A point has been made by the nightmare robot,’ Jyn sighed.

The crackling sword stabbed through the wall. It seemed that while the blade could phase through things, the hilt was solid. They were all perfectly safe as long as they stayed in the eastern half of the kitchen.

‘Hi,’ Bodhi said brightly. Cassian startled, then realised Bodhi had dialled the number without waiting for them to reach a consensus. Bodhi’s eyebrows wiggled in a way that suggested he was making progress.

‘Yeah, we’re looking for someone to get rid of a problem. Is this the Mandalorian?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween, and enjoy the new episode! Thanks for joining me on my first haunted house adventure.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [it lights the whole sky](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29636193) by Anonymous 




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